EndGame
by tamilnadu09
Summary: "She's the doppelganger," Katherine screamed, "She needs to be protected!" Damon paused in the act of shutting the tomb, "Then I'll protect her." Takes place in Season 2.
1. Petrova

**A/N: **I'm back! ;)

* * *

_Petrova._

Elena rolled the name off her tongue experimentally.

_Katerina Petrova. _

Funny that such a beautiful name could belong to such a twisted, evil, manipulative…bitch.

Elena flopped down on her bed, burying her face in her pillow. Over the recent months, she had been slowly conditioned into hating Katherine with every fiber of her being—but after their little chat in the tomb, Elena couldn't help but feel a tiny ounce of pity for _Katerina. _

After all, she had been just a teenager when her baby was taken away from her. She had been just a teenager when she had killed herself to become a vampire. She had been just a teenager when her entire family had been killed in cold blood.

_It could've been me_, Elena reminded herself. _All of those things could have happened to me_…

For one terrifying second, Elena thought about the parallels between her life and Katherine's. Yes, her parents were dead…but her birth parents were still alive. She still had an aunt (no thanks to Katherine, who had already tried to have Jenna stab herself to death), and she still had Jeremy (though no thanks to Damon, who had almost permanently caused her brother to become one of the undead…or just plain dead).

"Hey Elena, are you in there?"

"Yeah, come in," she called back, her voice muffled through the pillow.

Her bedroom door opened, and Jeremy walked in. He gave her a small smile and sat down at the edge of her bed. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?"

"You've been moping in here all day. Jenna thinks you're sick."

Elena groaned, picking up her pillow to cover her face, "I feel sick." She heard the bed springs creak as Jeremy reached over to pull the pillow out of her hands. She half-heartedly tried to pull it back, but he held it out of her reach.

"What's really going on here, Elena? Did you break up with Stefan again?"

Elena pushed herself into a sitting position and leaned back against her headboard. "We never got back together. We're still broken up."

"Okay," Jeremy said slowly, "So what? Did you have a fight with him?"

Elena regarded her brother for a second. "Tell me something," she said suddenly, "Do you think I'm anything like Katherine?"

"What? Why would you even think that?" he demanded, his brow furrowing with concern. "Did Stefan say that to you?"

"No," Elena sighed. "I was just thinking…I have a lot more in common with her than I want myself to believe."

"Last time I checked, you didn't go around killing people for sport."

"But what if I was a vampire?" Elena insisted, "Who's to say that I wouldn't act exactly like her?"

Jeremy gaped at her, incredulity filling his expression. "What the hell are you talking about? You want to be a vampire now?"

"No!" Elena rubbed her hands over her eyes, "You know what…just forget it. You wouldn't understand."

"Now who's being the emo misunderstood teenager?" Jeremy scowled. "I'm trying to understand, Elena. Try me."

"Just…" Elena took a deep breath, "Everyone wants to protect me."

"So?"

"That's just it!" she exclaimed, pointing to Jeremy. "You don't see anything wrong with that! And I do!"

"There's nothing wrong with protecting someone you love," Jeremy said fiercely. "Tell me you wouldn't do the same if one of us was in danger."

"That's not the point," Elena muttered sullenly. "You, Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, Caroline…even Alaric, would do anything to stand between me and Katherine."

"Yeah, we would," Jeremy glared at her. "You better not be thinking of doing something stupid, Elena."

"Like what?"

"Oh I don't know," Jeremy mused in mock puzzlement. "Maybe something like turning yourself into a vampire so that you can't be used as the _Petrova _doppelganger anymore?"

Elena didn't say anything for a minute before she answered carefully, "I would never do that, Jeremy. _Katerina _did that because she was alone. She was scared…If I was in her position, I might have done the same."

"So, you admit that the thought crossed your mind?" Jeremy demanded, standing up to face her. "Listen to me, Elena. You can't sit here and feel _sorry _for Katherine. When it comes down to it, she was only looking out for herself! You say she was alone? What about Trevor? He was willing to help her, and look where that got him!"

"That's my point," Elena leaned forward earnestly. "Trevor, Stefan, Damon, Mason…they all trusted Katherine. They all tried to help her. And none of them are any better off for it. Trevor spent _years _running, Stefan and Damon _died, _and Mason…well, you know what happened to him."

Jeremy crossed his arms, "What's your point?"

"Look what happened to everyone who tried to help Katherine," Elena clutched her knees to her chest. "They all put their lives on the line for her. I don't want to be that person, Jeremy. I don't want _anyone _to do that for me."

"Well, too bad," Jeremy slammed the door on his way out.

Elena stared after him in consternation before flopping back down on her bed. If she knew him, he was probably headed straight to his cell phone to inform Stefan or Damon about what Elena had just told him. She sighed, and reached over to switch off her lamp. In the darkness, she pulled the covers up to her chin and snuggled into her pillow. She hadn't really expected Jeremy to understand…the truth was, no one would understand. _Except maybe Katherine, _a nagging voice said in her head.

Elena swallowed, feeling slightly nervous that her mind was always trying to find some deeper connection with Katherine. She lifted her hand to her neck, fingering the vervain necklace around her throat. She checked every night, just to make sure that no one could invade her dreams…compel her.

As she drifted off into a troubled sleep, she briefly wondered exactly how she had gotten the necklace back. She had thought it was lost forever…but then, quite suddenly, it had been hanging around her neck again.

Stefan never mentioned it…and she had never brought it up. But, sometimes, she still wondered…


	2. True Enemy

Stefan sat on the sofa, staring unseeingly into the fireplace.

'_SO DAMON AND I DIED FOR NOTHING!'  
_'_No! You died for love!'_

_Love, _Stefan scoffed silently to himself…_right. _

"Ah, there's nothing quite like staring into the fireplace with a bottle of scotch…minus the scotch."

"Go away."

Damon grinned and walked into the living room. He plopped down on the sofa across from Stefan and calmly stuck a straw into the blood bag in his hand. He waggled it innocently in Stefan's direction, "Want some?"

"No."

Damon shrugged, and lounged backwards. "So," he prompted, "What are we brooding about today?"

Stefan ran his hands through his hair in frustration, "I don't know what we're going to do."

"Rose says—"

"Don't," Stefan interrupted, his brow furrowing. He let his voice drop to a low mutter, "What are you doing with her, anyway? Trevor _just _died...you're taking advantage of her, Damon."

"Oh, don't give me that holier-than-thou spiel," Damon groaned, letting his head fall back against the cushion. "It's none of your business."

"Friends with benefits, is that it?"

"Give it up, little bro," Damon said as he stood up. He began walking out of the living room when he paused, his head turned towards the doorway. "Did you invite Blondie over for a little date?"

"It's not a date," Stefan called back, "But yes, I did."

"This should be fun," Damon winked as he pulled open the door. He smiled politely at Caroline, whose hand was poised to knock on the door.

"Oh!" Caroline blinked, "Um. Is Stefan here?"

"Right this way," Damon ushered her in, and led her into the living room. He watched as Caroline sat down across from Stefan and shot a nervous smile in Damon's direction.

"I had to sneak out of my house to get here, so can we make this quick?" she asked, her hands twisting in her lap. "You said you wanted to talk?"

"Well, I'll just leave you two alone," Damon called over his shoulder as he glanced towards the ceiling, "I have a date of my own to get back to, anyway."

"Ew," Caroline wrinkled her nose, "I was wondering what that smell was. You reek of that Cullen wanna-be."

"Excuse me?"

"Can she predict the future, too?"

"Right..." Damon shrugged at Stefan, "Have fun, you two."

"No, you should probably stay for this," Stefan said tiredly. "It's about...Tyler."

Caroline sat up straighter, her eyes going wide. "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to tell him?" she whispered, which was a lost cause since Damon could hear every word, anyway.

"Tell me what?" Damon asked suspiciously.

"Ooh is that blood?" Caroline suddenly asked, her arms raised towards Damon the way that a five year old would reach towards a shiny new toy.

Damon rolled his eyes and tossed her his blood bag. She caught it in a flash, and settled herself into the sofa, happily sucking on the straw. Stefan heaved a sigh, "Listen, Damon. Caroline told me that she was...forced...to tell Tyler that she's a vampire."

There was silence.

Damon crossed his arms, and began walking towards Caroline. She backed further into the cushions, and shot Stefan a panicked look. "You mean to tell me that _Tyler knows about us?" _Damon hissed, glaring at Caroline. "How the hell did this happen?"

"I had no choice!" Caroline wailed, "He thought I was a werewolf!"

Damon paused, confused. "Why would he think that?"

"Uh, because he broke into my house and I had to fight him off?" Caroline said hopefully.

"Oh, for heaven's sakes," Damon snapped. "Well, that's just great, isn't it? As if we didn't have enough to worry about, now we have to kill Tyler, too."

"Hey!"

"No one is killing anyone!" Stefan stood up, holding up a hand to stop Caroline. "Just...everyone calm down!"

"Stefan, don't you see what's happening here?" Damon blurred to grab Stefan's collar. "If we don't eliminate the threat, then we're going to be attacked from all sides! Think about Elena!"

"Tyler isn't a threat!" Caroline said angrily. "He's scared, he's alone. He has no idea what's happening to him! We can't kill him just because you didn't get along with his uncle!"

"THAT was self preservation," Damon growled. "Mason tried to kill me _and _Stefan, or did you forget?"

Caroline took a deep breath "Look, I don't care about Mason Lockwood. My point is, Tyler doesn't know about any of this werewolf versus vampire stuff. He doesn't even know that there are other vampires in Mystic Falls. I only told him about me, I swear!"

Damon got in her face with a snarl. "He might not know about all that stuff _now. _But what happens when he realizes that vampires are his enemies? Who's to say that he won't come after you?" He grabbed Caroline's arm, "A werewolf bite can _kill _a vampire!"

Caroline wrenched her arm out of his grip, and tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "What makes you think Tyler is going to hate vampires? You have to be _taught _to hate something, you don't just randomly start hating stuff!"

"What, and you think someone _taught _Mason to hate us? We're natural enemies, Caroline! Stefan, back me up here."

Stefan rubbed his hands over his face. "Caroline, Damon is right. We can't take that chance."

"No," Caroline said stubbornly. "It's the whole nature versus nurture thing, isn't it? Well, I believe in nurture."

Damon and Stefan stared at her blankly.

"What? Just because I'm blonde doesn't mean I don't know anything," Caroline crossed her arms. "I'm not going to let you guys kill Tyler. We can trust him, I know it."

"Fine!" Damon pushed Caroline away roughly, and she fell backwards onto the couch. "When this comes back to bite us in the ass—and I mean that _literally—_ I'll be standing here saying _I told you so." _With that, he stalked out of the room angrily.

"That's right, go back to screwing your vampire girlfriend!" Caroline shouted after him as she threw the empty blood bag at his retreating back.

"Okay, okay," Stefan pulled Caroline back, "Calm down."

"Ugh, he makes me so mad!" she said furiously. "What's his deal with Rose, anyway? I thought he was all obsessed with Elena?"

Stefan sighed and glanced at the ceiling, "Yeah. I thought so, too."

* * *

***caroline/tyler or caroline/stefan? **


	3. Just Ask

"Hey, wait up!"

Bonnie turned around and smiled when she saw Jeremy jogging towards her. "Hey," she grinned, holding her books to her chest. "What's up?"

He smiled back at her, but carefully looked around before speaking. "I was kinda wondering if we could talk…in private."

"Uh, sure," Bonnie frowned as she followed him to a bench in the courtyard. They sat opposite each other, and she raised an eyebrow when she saw Jeremy glance discreetly around again. She leaned forward and said in a mock whisper, "Who are we hiding from?

"Oh, it's not like that," Jeremy said quickly, "I just don't want the wrong people to overhear, ya know?"

"Okay…" Bonnie placed her books on the table. "You're starting to scare me, Jer. Did something happen? What is this about?"

He took a deep breath, and began talking in a low voice. "It's about Elena. I don't know who else to talk to…if I told Stefan or Damon, I know they would freak. And that wouldn't help anyone. In fact, it would probably make things worse."

"Make _what _worse?" Bonnie demanded, beginning to get worried. His hand was resting on the table so she instinctively covered it with her own and squeezed it lightly. "You can trust me, Jeremy. You know that, right?"

He glanced down at their hands, and Bonnie felt a wave of awkwardness wash over her. She removed her hand as subtly as possible, but not before Jeremy flashed her a brief smile. "I know, I trust you," he began. "Look, last night I was talking to Elena because she had been holed up in her room all day, and we got to talking about Katherine..."

.

.

"Mind if I sit down?"

Caroline looked up from her yogurt in surprise. "Oh hey, Tyler," she smiled at him and quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching. "How's it going?"

Tyler took a seat across from her, looking uncomfortable. "Did you know the next full moon is in two weeks?"

Caroline paused, the spoon halfway to her mouth. "It is? Oh my god Tyler, I didn't even think about that!" She leaned forward, whispering now, "Do you think..."

"I know it's going to happen," he said tightly, his fists clenching the table. "Once the curse has been activated, there's no going back."

Caroline looked around to make sure no one she knew was watching—or listening, for that matter. Using her vampiric vision, she could see Bonnie and Jeremy seated at a bench on the other side of the courtyard. She squinted, slightly surprised to see that they appeared to be holding hands across the table.

"...part of the Lockwood property, when I asked..."

Caroline nodded to act like she was paying attention to Tyler, and subtly tilted her head in the direction of Bonnie and Jeremy so she could hear what they were talking about. A snatch of their conversation reached her ears, '._..holed up in her room all day, and we got to talking about Katherine...' _

"...wanted to know if you would come down there with me to check it out? I think that's where my Uncle Mason used to chain himself up during the full moon..."

"Oh!" Caroline blinked when she realized Tyler was waiting for her response. "Yeah, of course I'll go with you," she agreed quickly, not knowing exactly what Tyler had been talking about.

He looked extremely relieved. "Thanks, Caroline. It's good to know that there's _someone _in my life that can understand what's going on..." As he kept talking, Caroline caught a scent of something familiar. She glanced to her right, and her eyes widened.

Matt.

He was standing some distance away, his expression confused as he watched Tyler and Caroline talking.

_Oh great. _

.

.

"Well, I can always go check up on Isobel's research again," Alaric offered as he walked out of the school with Stefan.

"Do you think there's anything useful in there? I don't know if Isobel would have known anything about the Originals..."

Alaric shrugged, "It can't hurt to check. Damon and I can go, if you need to hold down the fort over here."

"Yeah, I should probably stay," Stefan agreed. He happened to glance across the courtyard, and his gaze landed on Caroline and Tyler. "I don't believe it," he muttered, a scowl darkening his features. How many times did they have to warn her to stay away from werewolves?

"What's wrong?" Alaric asked, looking confused.

"I have to go," Stefan said abruptly. As he began walking towards Caroline, he glanced to his left and raised an eyebrow when he saw Bonnie and Jeremy sitting together. Stefan paused curiously, tilting his head in their direction.

'_She feels connected to Katherine?' Bonnie whispered incredulously. 'Elena actually said that?'  
'Not only that,' Jeremy muttered back, 'But she confessed that she's actually considered becoming a vampire to get rid of this whole Petrova doppelganger mess...'_

Stefan's head snapped up in alarm. From the corner of his eye, he saw Caroline suddenly stand up, too. Obviously she had also been eavesdropping on Bonnie and Jeremy's conversation. As Stefan began to make his way over to Bonnie, Matt suddenly appeared in front of him, looking tense. "Hey, man. What's up?"

Stefan stared at him, slightly annoyed. "Not much," he answered distractedly. "Actually, I have somewhere to be—"

"This won't take long," Matt said quickly. He glanced over his shoulder discreetly, "But do you know what's going on with Tyler and Caroline? They seem awfully _friendly _all of a sudden..."

"Um..." Stefan looked back over at Bonnie and Jeremy, not entirely surprised to see Caroline had joined them. She was waving her arms, and appeared to be causing a scene. As he watched, Bonnie and Jeremy both stood up and said something to Caroline. She didn't look happy, but she followed them into the parking lot and out of sight.

"...because that's not normal, you know what I mean?" Matt was saying, "Two people who hate each other don't just randomly start being friends..."

.

.

Elena sighed as she walked out of the school library, juggling her books in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She had multiple unread text messages from Stefan, Jeremy, Bonnie, and Caroline. She reached her locker, and winced as she accidently dropped her books in her attempt to use her phone at the same time. "Never try to multi-task, Elena," she chided herself in mild annoyance. She slid her phone into her pocket and let the rest of her books fall to the ground as she fumbled with her locker combination. After several moments, she finally cranked it open.

She reached down to collect her books, but stopped short in surprise.

They weren't there anymore.

She looked around in confusion, but there was no one there. "Hello?" she called down the hallway uncertainly, but the only sound that came back to her was the echo of her own voice.

Feeling slightly nervous, she reached out to close her locker door.

And nearly had a heart attack.

"Why hello Elena," Damon drawled, grinning at her stunned expression. He was leaning casually next to her locker, as if it was perfectly normal that he was there.

"What the _hell _are you doing here?" she hissed, her hand over her chest to calm her pounding heart. "You nearly scared me half to death!"

Damon smirked and held out his hand, in which he was balancing all her books. "Half to death, huh? Isn't that what you want?"

Elena frowned, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Damon merely raised an eyebrow and carelessly let her books fall to the ground again. She swallowed as he began walking closer to her, until she was backed up against the lockers. "Word on the street is that you want to be turned into a vampire, Elena," he murmured, leaning into her neck. He grinned when he heard her heart rate increase dramatically, and brought his lips to her ear. "Silly girl, all you had to do is ask..."

Three things then happened simultaneously.

He raised his head and vamped out; Elena opened her mouth to scream, and Stefan appeared at the end of the hallway.

Within the next second, Stefan was by Elena's side protectively.

And Damon had disappeared.

* * *

*** the votes for Caroline/Tyler or Caroline/Stefan are really close! haha or should i just make it a love triangle? =P cast your vote if you haven't yet! :) **


	4. Blood Promises

Stefan slammed the door to the boarding house so hard that the frame rattled. "Damon, get down here NOW!" he shouted. He heard a faint noise from the living room, and blurred into the next room.

Only to find Rose instead.

Stefan crossed his arms as he studied her. Rose's back was to him as she carefully poured a glass of scotch. He barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. _Maybe she really was Damon's other half. _

Rose turned around as he was thinking this, and gave him a smirk. _Scratch that…she and Damon were practically the same person. _Stefan didn't waste time with pleasantries, "Where is he?"

"Damon said he'd be back in a bit," Rose grinned and held out her drink. "Would you like some?"

"Hey, no offering my perpetually underage brother alcohol," Damon mock-scolded as he suddenly appeared behind Stefan, smirking.

Faster than the human eye could blink, Stefan had shoved Damon against the wall. "What the _hell _were you thinking?" he hissed angrily, "Trying to turn Elena into a _vampire_? That's low Damon, even for you—"

"Are you done?" Damon asked lazily before easily pushing Stefan off. "And simmer down, you know I had no intention of _actually _turning Elena into a vampire." He shrugged before taking the glass out of Rose's hand. "I just wanted to scare her a bit before she tried to do anything stupid."

Rose frowned, "You went to the high school this morning? _That's _why you left—"

Damon flashed her a look of warning to silence her. "I was originally there to make sure that Blondie was staying away from Tyler, but then I overheard Jeremy telling Bonnie all of Elena's dirty little secrets. So, I decided to step in and run a little damage control myself."

"Damage control?" Stefan snapped, "Is that what you're calling it?"

"Look, what did Elena do when she thought I was going to bite her?" Damon demanded. "She was going to scream for help. You know what that means? It means she was _scared_." Damon grinned, "See? My plan worked."

"Oh brilliant," Stefan seethed, "The only thing you've done is further alienate Elena...Now even if she _does _plan on doing something stupid, she'll keep it to herself and we'll never know about it!"

Damon frowned but before he could speak, Rose cut in. "I hate to say it, but I think Stefan is right on this one."

"You're supposed to agree with the brother that you're sleeping with, haven't I taught you anything?" Damon snapped.

Rose stared at him in disbelief before grabbing the bottle of whiskey and whirling it in Damon's direction. His hand flashed out to catch it, but he made no move to stop her as she stormed from the room. "What?" he asked as Stefan shot him a look of disapproval. "I was kidding. It's not my fault 500 year old vamps can't take a joke."

"You really have no empathy whatsoever, do you?"

"Caring gets you killed," Damon quoted, "Or something like that. Anyway, Alaric tells me that you've set me up on a little road trip with him? You didn't have to do that, little bro," he grinned, "I can score my own dates."

Stefan groaned in frustration, "Could you _maybe_ take this seriously?"

"Does it get tiring being so serious all the time?" Damon retorted before holding his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I'll be serious...I _seriously _don't think that Isobel will have any research on Klaus. I mean, why would she know anything about him? Even Rose and Slater barely knew anything..."

"What other options do we have?" Stefan asked tiredly.

At that moment, the doorbell rang and Caroline waltzed in with a bright smile on her face. "Hey guys," she chirped, "What's going on?"

Damon stared at her in consternation, "What are you doing here?"

Caroline's smile faded slightly, but she recovered almost immediately. "I need to ask you guys a favor. It's about Tyler—"

"Of course it is," Damon muttered under his breath. "I think we have enough problems to worry about without taking on your sudden infatuation with the werewolf!"

"I just want to help him!" Caroline directed her pleas toward Stefan instead. "He told me today that the full moon is in two weeks, and he has no idea what to expect...he wants me to go down to the old Lockwood property with him and see where Mason used to chain himself up..."

Damon blurred until he was standing nose-to-nose with Caroline. She took a startled step backwards, but he grabbed her arms to forcefully hold her in place. "If you have a death wish, then do whatever you want," he growled menacingly. "I'm sick and tired of having to watch over you! Elena is in danger, and it's about time that we figured out how to get her _out _of danger, _got it?_"

Caroline gave a small squeak of terror, and Stefan attempted to pry Damon's hands off of her. "Let her go, Damon," he muttered, "This isn't helping anyone."

Damon shot her one last death glare before backing off. He walked over to the liquor cabinet, and proceeded to ignore both of them. Stefan sighed and turned his attention back to Caroline. "Okay, look. I know you want to help Tyler. Trust me, I get it—"

"No, you don't!" Caroline pleaded, "He's all alone, Stefan! I know that when I turned I had you guys, but it was still really hard for me...I still _felt _like I was alone. There was no one I could share that experience with, there was no one that could _really _understand what I was going through." She paused and looked down at the ground, "Don't you know what it's like to be alone?"

Stefan didn't say anything. From the corner of his eye, he saw Damon slowly walking towards them. Damon stared at Caroline, a flicker of emotion flashing across his face. It was gone before Stefan could blink, but he recognized it. _Empathy._

_"_What should we do?" Stefan directed his question toward Damon this time, and knew that he would already be formulating a plan.

* * *

"So you think Damon would have actually bitten you?" Bonnie demanded, her mouth becoming a thin line as her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He wouldn't do that," Jeremy cut in before Elena could answer, "He was just trying to scare you out of doing something stupid."

Elena groaned and flopped back against the sofa with her eyes closed. "Jer, I told you all that stuff last night in confidence. And I wasn't serious...not really."

Jeremy didn't look the least bit apologetic. "Really? Because it sounded pretty serious to me. And it's not my fault that everyone found out...I only wanted to tell Bonnie, because she's your best friend and I thought she would be able to talk some sense into you. I can't help it if everyone else we know is a vampire with super-hearing."

Elena rolled her eyes, and Bonnie smiled slightly at Jeremy before turning to look at Elena. "So," she tugged on her arm, "Have you gotten those thoughts out of your head? No more vampire talk?"

"Okay, okay," Elena mumbled as she stood up, "No more vampire talk."

As she began to leave the room, Bonnie grabbed her arm for good measure. "Promise me," she insisted, "You're _not _going to drink any vamp blood, you're not going to ask Damon or Stefan or Caroline..or any other vampire you know to turn you?"

"I promise," Elena insisted, her voice tinged with annoyance. "Will you take my word for it or do I need to sign in blood or something?"

Bonnie grinned, "No, I'll take your word for it."

"Good," she smiled back before grabbing her backpack. "Now, if you don't mind, I really have a lot of homework to do..." Elena paused as she was about to go upstairs, and frowned when she saw Bonnie and Jeremy were still sitting together in the living room. "Bonnie, did you want to come upstairs?"

"No, I have to get home," Bonnie called back, but she didn't move. Elena shrugged as she walked upstairs. _Whatever._

_._

Elena walked into her room, and dropped her bag on the floor in shock. "Damon! What are you doing here?" She took a few hasty steps backwards, her back hitting the door. "Jeremy and Bonnie are right downstairs," she warned, "If I scream..."

"If I wanted you dead—or to become a vampire, for that matter—then that would have happened already," Damon said lazily from his relaxed position on her bed. "But I don't, ergo the fact that you're still human."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she took a few hesitant steps into the room. "Then what was with the whole vamp-out at school today? If Stefan hadn't shown up—"

"Then nothing would be any different," Damon said impatiently. "I know you like thinking the worst of me, but did you seriously think I would turn you? Just like that?" Elena opened her mouth to answer, but Damon suddenly stood up. The next thing she knew, he was standing directly in front of her. "Seriously," he repeated, his voice quieter. "Do you honestly believe I would ever do that to you?"

Elena took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No," she admitted, "I know you wouldn't. I guess I just...panicked."

Damon nodded, but he didn't back away. His expression hardened, and he suddenly pushed her against the door. She cried out in pain, but he didn't release her. "Now," he said conversationally, "I want you to tell me that you're not going to go running off to find Isobel or Katherine and make one of them turn you. Got it?"

"Got it," she hissed through gritted teeth.

He gave her a cold smile, "Good."

Then he was gone.

Elena stomped over to her window and slammed it shut. She made sure he was gone before she stared into her mirror in determination..._And do you honestly think that I would let the people I love die to protect me?_


	5. Deal With the Devil

**A/N: **just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews!

* * *

Elena stood at the top of the stairs leading into the tomb, simply gazing into the darkness below. _Why was she here again? _She frowned deeply, disturbed that she couldn't seem to place a reason for being there.

She hesitantly walked down the stairs, until she was standing in the tomb. Elena stared at the tomb door in faint annoyance. She obviously couldn't lift it out of the way herself—and she hadn't brought a vampire with her this time. _As if any of them would help…_she thought bitterly, sliding down next to the door. Both Stefan and Damon would freak if she told them she wanted to talk to Katherine…Caroline wouldn't help her _again_. Maybe Bonnie could…there might be a spell or something to lift heavy objects…

She groaned and leaned her head against the concrete wall. It was hopeless. There was no way that she would ever be able to talk to Katherine face-to-face again. "What am I doing here?" she asked herself out loud. "This is pointless."

'_Come to visit me again?' _

Elena's eyes opened, startled. She looked around the tomb carefully, but there was no one there. "H—hello?" she called out uncertainly, "Who's there?"

'_There is no one else here, Elena. Just you…and me.'_

Elena swallowed and slowly turned to look behind her. She placed her hand on the wall, as though testing its strength. "How can I hear you_?" _Elena breathed, standing up and running her hands along the concrete wall. "It's…not possible."

'_Anything is possible once you put your mind to it,' _Katherine answered cryptically before giving a light giggle. '_You're the doppelganger, Elena. You're special.'_

Elena paused directly in front of the tomb door, her hands still splayed out in front of her. Suddenly, she gave a tiny gasp. She could almost _feel _Katherine's hands on the other side of the wall, splayed in exactly the same position as Elena's. "Why are you doing this?" she whispered nervously, "What do you want?"

'_I didn't call you, Elena,' _Katherine's voice was throaty, rough from lack of blood. '_You came to me.'_

"I...don't remember," Elena frowned, "Did I?"

'_Scared of Klaus?' _Katherine asked knowingly. '_I can make you a deal, Elena...if you let me out, I'll make sure you're protected. How does that sound?'_

"I thought you didn't want to leave the tomb," Elena said accusingly. "Something about being the safest vampire in town?"

_'I changed my mind,' _Katherine hissed. '_Do you know how boring it is to be cooped up by yourself in here? No? Perhaps one day you'll find out...'_

"No," Elena said adamantly. "I don't want to become a vampire to get rid of this doppelganger curse. I won't be like _you_."

Katherine laughed, '_Self-preservation, Elena. I was smart...I protected myself. If you knew what was best, then you would do the same.'_

"No," Elena repeated. "I won't ever be anything like you, Katherine." She took a deep breath, "I would never _want _to be anything like you."

'_Fine,' _Katherine's voice sounded distinctly annoyed. '_Then what do you want?'_

"If I find a way to let you out," Elena began, "I want you to promise me that you'll _kill _me."

'_Ah,' _Katherine sounded amused, "_Placing the lives of your friends and family before your own...how very noble of you, Elena.' _Katherine paused, '_Noble...but stupid.'_

Elena ignored her, "Do we have a deal?"

Katherine's hand moved across the wall, and Elena's hand followed from the other side subconsciously. Katherine waited a moment, but finally replied, "We do."

.

Satisfied, Elena grabbed her things and then ran back up the stairs. In her euphoria at perfecting her plan, she didn't pay attention to where she was going. After several minutes, however, it was clear that she wasn't making her way back to the town. Suddenly, she heard voices coming from behind her and she turned around, confused. One of the voices sounded familiar...

"We can go back to my house to see if there's anything on it," Caroline was saying as she and Tyler climbed out of the cave. "And..._Elena?" _she stopped short in surprise, seeing Elena standing outside. "What are you doing here?"

Elena stared back at Caroline and Tyler, looking equally confused. "I was just...going for a walk. What are you guys doing?"

"Um," Caroline began, casting her eyes desperately around the woods for some kind of excuse.

"Project," Tyler cut in, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I was just showing Caroline the old Lockwood property...the project has something to do with Mystic Falls Through Time or some shit like that."

Elena smiled and nodded convincingly, "Yeah, that sounds interesting." She gestured behind her, "Well, I should just get back home. I—"

"No, you should come back with us," Caroline interrupted forcefully. "We wouldn't want you to get lost in the woods now, would we?"

Elena and Caroline had a silent face-off while Tyler watched curiously. "Fine," Elena responded after a minute through gritted teeth, "I'll come back with you."

"Great," Caroline grinned, all sunshine and smiles once more. She let Tyler lead the way out, with Elena following him. Caroline hung backwards surreptitiously and pulled out her cell phone; her fingers flew across the keys as she hurriedly typed a message.

* * *

"Thanks for having us over, Tyler," Elena said politely as she took a seat in the Lockwood's mansion. Caroline took a seat across from her, her eyes darting nervously around the room every few seconds. "What is with you?" Elena finally snapped. "Why did you bring us here? What are you doing hanging out with Tyler, anyway?"

"Shh," Caroline cautioned, before mouthing the words '_supernatural hearing.' _She shifted, "Look, just promise you won't get mad, okay?"

"Um, okay..." Elena frowned, "Mad about what?"

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Lcokwood walked down the hallway, looking puzzled. She flashed the girls a smile before calling upstairs, "Tyler, are you expecting any more company?"

"No," Tyler called back, "Why?"

Mrs. Lockwood didn't answer, and went to open the door. Elena couldn't hear the exchange that followed, but she saw Caroline tense and sit up straighter. "What's going on?" Elena whispered, "Caroline?"

"Look who's decided to drop by for a visit!" Mrs. Lockwood announced brightly as she entered the room. Elena's eyes widened with shock.

Damon.

He narrowed his eyes at her before flashing a grin in Mrs. Lockwood's direction. "I hope you don't mind, but I've been trying to track down Elena. A little birdie told me she was here."

"No problem," Mrs. Lockwood smiled warmly. "Please, take a seat. I'll be right back with some drinks."

Damon nodded politely, and waited till she had left the room. Within seconds, he was standing in front of Elena and Caroline.

And he did not look happy.

"Would you two like to tell me what the _hell _you're doing here?" Elena started to speak, but Damon held up a hand; "No, Blondie gets to talk first."

"I found Elena wandering around the woods," Caroline said quickly, averting her eyes from Elena's as though that would lessen the betrayal. "I thought she might have been trying to contact Katherine again."

Damon's mouth fell into a grim line, and his eyes flashed with barely concealed anger. "Is this true, Elena?"

"It's none of your—"

She gasped as Damon suddenly sped forward, until their faces were inches apart. "Did you or did you not see Katherine?"

Elena crossed her arms defensively, "And what if I did?"

Damon's scowl deepened. "We're leaving," he hissed. "Now." He whirled around to look at Caroline, "And _you. _What were you doing with Tyler?"

"I told you he asked me to look at—"

"Enough," Damon cut her off, looking increasingly furious. "I don't understand why the two of you have a death wish, but I've had enough. We're leaving."

Caroline stood up to comply with his order, but Elena stayed sitting down stubbornly. "I'm not leaving because you told me to, Damon. You don't get to to tell me what to do."

Damon shoved Caroline out of the way so that she went flying across the room. She stumbled slightly, but managed to catch her balance. Her eyes widened as Damon grabbed Elena's arm and hauled her up so they were face to face. He leaned forward, his lips curling with fury. His voice was icy and his eyes glittered dangerously, "_Leave now before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself."_

* * *

_*_**i really liked that Damon line from the last episode. i thought i'd incorporate it somehow ;)**


	6. Guest of Honor

Damon was muttering darkly under his breath as he dragged Caroline and Elena out of the Lockwood mansion. Caroline shuffled her feet as he forcefully pulled on her arm, but Elena was stubbornly stomping along—much in the manner of a petulant child.

"Where are we going?" Caroline demanded after a few moments when it became clear that Damon wasn't heading out of the woods. "Isn't this the way back to the tomb?"

"Yes," Damon snapped, "For your information, Stefan and I had actually concocted a _foolproof_ plan in order to get the moonstone from Katherine. Unfortunately, I hadn't counted on the two of you being the fools."

Caroline pursed her lips in annoyance, but didn't say anything. Elena, on the other hand, stopped walking completely and snatched her arm out of Damon's grip. "Wait a second! What plan? How were you planning on getting the moonstone out of the tomb without going in yourselves?"

Damon tossed her a scathing look. "The witch agreed to help us out. She was going to lower the barrier for a few seconds—enough time for Stefan and I to jump in and wrestle it out of Katherine's cold, dead hands."

Elena looked confused, "What happened?"

"Well, Bonnie was in the midst of making some kind of witchy dust to freeze Katherine when I got a call—and had to leave to come rescue you two."

"We didn't need to be rescued," Elena responded hotly. She threw a glare in Caroline's direction, "I can't believe you called Damon!"

"I didn't!" Caroline exclaimed. She frowned, "I texted Stefan to let him know that I had found you near the tomb…"

"The call wasn't from your BFF over here," Damon interrupted, rolling his eyes. "It was from Rose."

"What?" Elena looked furious, "Is she _following _me now? I thought she couldn't walk in the daylight!"

Damon gestured upwards—to the dark, cloudy sky—and silenced her with a look. "I told her to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, which I thought you might attempt to do, in spite of our little chat the other day in your bedroom.

Caroline paused, "Wait, what were you—"

"Just hurry up," Damon cut her off as they reached the staircase to the tomb. He stopped at the top, looking confused.

Elena glanced at him, "What's wrong?"

Damon frowned, "They should be here by now. Rose said that Stefan and Bonnie left the boarding house a while ago."

Caroline suddenly raised her head, her nose wrinkling. She glanced at Damon, whose eyes were narrowed. "Do you smell that? It smells like…"

"Blood." Without further ado, he supersped into the tomb, leaving the girls in his wake.

Elena ran down the stairs, closely followed by Caroline. What she saw at the bottom made her stop dead. "Oh my god," Caroline breathed, raising her hands to her mouth.

Bonnie lay passed out on the ground, a long chain entwined in her fingers.

And then there was Jeremy.

"What the hell!" Elena cried, running over to the corner of the cave where Jeremy was sitting. He was hunched over in pain, his hand clutching his neck desperately as the blood seeped through his fingers. "Oh my god, what are you doing here! What happened?"

"Well, well. Looks like the gang has finally arrived," Katherine's voice echoed eerily around the tomb. A moment later, she appeared at the entrance to the cave. She grinned, her lips stained with blood. She raised a finger to her lips, and wiped off a speck of blood before reaching her arm out towards Elena. "Wanna taste?" she asked innocently.

Damon growled, blurring to stand between Elena and Katherine. 'What the _hell _is going on here, Katherine? Where's Stefan?"

"Oh, how rude of me," Katherine mock-pouted, "I haven't introduced you to the guest of honor!" She turned around to face the back of the caves, "Oh Stefan! Don't be shy, your friends are here to see you!"

Everyone exchanged looks of horror as Stefan appeared at the cave entrance, looking remorseful. His eyes went straight to Damon, who looked stunned. "I make a side trip for ten minutes, and this is what happens?" His voice was raised in anger, "Why the hell did you start the spell without me?"

"It's my fault," Jeremy suddenly groaned, waving away Elena's fluttering hands. "I thought I could get the moonstone myself."

Damon gritted his teeth, "How very stupid of you."

"So noble," Katherine sighed dreamily. "And stupid," she added bluntly. "He thought he could sprinkle fairy dust on me and get out before I woke up." She peered at Jeremy, "Did you really think that witch could keep me down for long?"

Elena looked between Katherine and Jeremy, a dawning realization on her face. "You _fed _from him!" she said accusingly, "How could you—"

"Yes, yes," Katherine responded, sounding bored. "He was going to be my new special toy…the gift that just keeps on _giving_." She sighed again, "But then Stefan had to go ruin all my fun."

Elena stood up, and made a sudden movement as though to run to Stefan— but Damon grabbed her arms and pulled her backwards. Stefan watched silently as Elena struggled fruitlessly against Damon's grip. "Let me go!" she shouted, "I don't need to be saved!"

"Aw, look who doesn't want to be the damsel in distress anymore," Katherine drawled, "How cute."

"Get her out of here," Stefan said quietly, his eyes trained on Damon. "Make sure she doesn't come back until we find a way to undo this."

Damon nodded, his eyes unreadable. He glanced at Caroline, "You. Take Elena and Jeremy home. I don't care what you have to do to get them there. Use force if necessary. Just do it."

Caroline didn't argue, and hauled Elena and Jeremy up the stairs, ignoring both of their protests. Just before they reached the exit, Katherine suddenly called out, "Our deal still stands, Elena. I might be a bitch, but I don't go back on my promises."

Elena didn't have time to reply before Caroline sped them out of the tomb. Damon glared at Katherine, "I don't know what kind of deal you made with her, but _over my dead body_."

"That can easily be arranged," Katherine replied unconcernedly. "I'm sure Klaus will take care of that bit."

Damon ignored her and turned his attention to Bonnie before swiftly picking her up in his arms. "How long has she been out?"

"A while. The spell was too much for her."

Damon nodded again, raising his head to meet Stefan's gaze. "I _will _get you out of here, Stefan. We'll find a way."

"I'll be fine," Stefan glanced at Katherine, who grinned at him seductively. "I'll be fine," he repeated. "Just promise me that you'll protect Elena. No matter what."

"No matter what," Damon repeated, his eyes burning with intensity.

Then he sped out, leaving Katherine and Stefan trapped in the tomb.


	7. Plan X

Damon paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Moonstone…curse…Katherine," he murmured under his breath incomprehensibly. "Stefan…damn tomb…"

"Okay, so while Damon is doing _that_," Bonnie threw the aforementioned vampire a glare, "Does anyone else have any ideas?"

"How do we destroy the moonstone?" Jeremy asked, turning the stone over in his hands. "That could solve one of our problems, at least…"

"That'll be powerfully bound by magic," Alaric shook his head, glancing at Bonnie. "She won't be able to do it herself."

"Well, then we need to find another witch," Jeremy stated, his tone uncertain. He glanced at Damon, who didn't appear to be paying attention, and then flicked his gaze over to Rose. "You're old, right?"

Rose laughed at that, her eyes surprisingly warm as she studied Jeremy. "Yeah, you could say that," she agreed. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged, "I figured if you've been around for like a 500 years, you might know a witch or two."

"Yeah, well," Rose hesitated, "When you live for that long, witches you know tend to…die."

Jeremy frowned, "Oh yeah…I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Bonnie asked sharply, "That witches aren't immortal? Or that we aren't one of the living dead?"

Rose raised an eyebrow, "For all your disdain towards vampires, don't you find it odd that you spend a greater portion of your life helping them?"

"I'm not helping them," Bonnie sniffed, "I'm—"

"Oh, give it a rest!" Damon suddenly snapped, apparently having been listening to the conversation the entire time. "You're doing it for Elena, we get it!"

"As long as you don't forget that," Bonnie returned resolutely, not looking bothered by Damon's tone.

Damon shook his head, and then resumed his pacing.

"Okay," Alaric coughed, "So. Did you guys, er, check up on Stefan?"

"Caroline dropped off a bag of supplies yesterday," Damon muttered. "Lanterns, clothes, sleeping bags…all the essentialities except for blood."

"He didn't want any?"

"No, he didn't want to have to share with the resident bitch."

Alaric merely nodded, before looking around the room sudden awareness. "Wait a second, where _is _Caroline?"

"Werewolf duty. The full moon is in a couple of days. Apparently, they've gone shopping for chains." Damon paused, "And the fact that I didn't crack some bondage-related joke should tell you how serious the situation is."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, so to recap: Stefan is stuck in the tomb, and he's refusing to drink blood in an effort to give you guys a change against Katherine. That's noble of him, but I don't think he realizes how painful that's going to be."

"How long can vampires last without blood?" Bonnie asked curiously. "I mean, before they start to…"

"Katherine will be able to last a while," Damon answered, not looking pleased. "She's had more experience with restraining herself. Stefan, on the other hand…"

"Isn't as strong," Rose finished, "So he'll start feeling the effects sooner."

"That gives us, what, like a week to find the solution?" Jeremy asked, looking discouraged. "How are we going to find another witch in a week?"

Alaric cleared his throat, "Well, Stefan wanted me to go look through Isobel's research again, to see if there was anything about Klaus or the Originals."

"Who's Isobel?"

"Elena's mother."  
"My ex-wife."  
"A vampire I created."

There was silence.

Rose blinked several times, "Oh."

"Yeah, yeah, we all lead very Jerry Spring-esqe lives," Damon said impatiently after an awkward silence. "Moving on...I don't think Isobel would have known anything about Klaus, so let's not waste our time—"

"It wouldn't hurt to check," Jeremy objected. He turned to look at Alaric hopefully, "I could come with you."

"Absolutely not," Damon said firmly. "You don't need to be involved."

"Tell you what," Rose said, smiling at Jeremy. "I have a friend named Slater who's also big on research. How about you come with me to go talk to him?"

"Sure," Jeremy stood up eagerly, "Now?"

"Wait a second," Bonnie protested, "You can't just _leave_! What about Elena?"

"What about her? You already put that spell on the house, so she can't leave..."

Rose neared Damon, "I'll take good care of him, I promise."

"You better," Damon responded warningly.

"Then I guess I'll head out and take a look through Isobel's research," Alaric stood up as well. "Maybe I'll see if I can get Jenna to come with me..."

"Good idea," Damon called after him, "The more people out of the way, the better."

Alaric muttered something back as he shut the door behind him.

Leaving Bonnie and Damon staring at each other.

Bonnie sighed, "Okay, look. When I was going through some of my grandmother's things, I found a list of names...families. I think that might be a clue."

"Great," Damon grabbed his car keys, "Let's go."

But Bonnie shook her head, "No, I think I should stay here. There might be something useful in the grimmoire about the moonstone. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to leave Caroline here by herself to deal with the Tyler situation."

"Fine," Damon said smoothly, "Give me the list."

Bonnie hesitated, biting her lip. "I'll give it to you, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to take Elena with you."

Damon raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Bonnie shrugged, "Based on your track record of killing every supernatural being that crosses your path, consider yourself lucky that I'm giving you this list at all."

He seemed to be struggling to find a flaw in her reasoning. "Ah, but you've got Elena on lockdown in her house," he suddenly said with a smirk. "So, I can't take her."

"Wrong," she countered easily, "I'll lift the spell tonight. Then you guys can go." She smiled, "See, no problems."

Damon's eyes narrowed, and he whipped his cell phone out before punching in a few numbers. "Elena? Yeah, I'm gonna have to ask you to pack your bags." He grinned, winking at Bonnie. "Why, you ask? Because the two of us are going on a little road trip. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

* * *

***who's excited for a little Delena bonding? ;) **


	8. Family Ties

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Rose laughed easily, her hands resting lazily on the steering wheel. She pretended to think for a second before responding, "That's a strange question. Why do you ask?"

"You let me come with you," Jeremy pointed out, twisting around in the passenger seat to look at her. "No one else would have."

"Oh, right," Rose mused, grinning, "You mean Damon?"

"And Elena, and Stefan, and Bonnie…" He frowned, and muttered, "They still treat me like a kid."

"You _are_ a kid," Rose countered, glancing at Jeremy. When she saw his scowl, she quickly elaborated. "You should consider yourself lucky. You have so many people who care about what happens to you; so many people that want to protect you…" she trailed off, sounding wistful. "I wish I could say the same."

Jeremy was silent for a few moments, considering her words. "Don't get me wrong," he said carefully, "I love my sister and my friends. I get that they want to protect me…but I hate standing on the sidelines. That's just not the kind of person I am."

"I know," Rose gave him a small smile. "And if I was in your position, I would feel the same way."

"Is that why you let me come with you to see this Slater guy?"

"Not really. You just remind me of someone I used to know," she explained, "Someone that I miss deeply."

"Oh…your boyfriend? Elena told me what happened to him," Jeremy leaned back into his seat. "Believe me, I know how _that _feels. My girlfriend was killed by John Gilbert a few months back. It hurt so much that I almost considered turning."

Rose's hands shifted on the wheel in surprise. "Turning? You mean into a vampire?"

"Yeah," he answered listlessly, turning to look out the window at the passing scenery. "Anna gave me some of her blood before she died. I just wanted the pain to end, ya know?"

"Anna? You dated a vampire?" Rose raised her eyebrows, "Well, well. Guess it runs in the family…Speaking of which, did you say John _Gilbert? _Is that some relative of yours?"

"Yeah, that's Elena's biological father. He has this intense hatred of vampires, which is stupid considering that it's kind of his fault that Isobel became a vampire in the first place."

"And you said Isobel is Elena's mother, right?"

"Biological," Jeremy clarified. "John's my uncle, but my dad adopted Elena into our family and raised her as his own daughter."

Rose's head was spinning. "So, Isobel is somehow related to Katherine? And Damon is the one that turned Isobel? And Isobel was married to that Alaric guy before that all happened…wow, it's a lot to remember, isn't it?"

"I try not to think about it too much," Jeremy answered honestly. "It's pretty screwed up."

"Want to know what else is screwed up?" Rose tilted her head at him. "When you asked why I was being nice to you…It's not because you remind me of Trevor." She took a deep breath, "When I was human, I had a younger brother. He was killed before…before I was turned into a vampire." She gave Jeremy a sad smile, "You remind me of him."

He didn't say anything, noticing that Rose looked upset. "Thank god," Jeremy teased, "I was afraid that you wanted me to replace Trevor or something." Rose laughed at that, and Jeremy smiled to himself at successfully cheering her up. "You're like _way _too old for me anyway," he added with a grin.

"And here I was thinking that I looked good for my age," Rose said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. She paused and grinned at him, "But I know for a fact that you like older women, don't you?" She mouthed the word '_Bonnie' _at him, but didn't say it out loud.

Jeremy grinned back, and turned to look back out the window. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"_Right_," Rose smirked as she turned into the exit off the highway. She tossed her cell phone at Jeremy, "Text Slater and tell him we're almost there." She set her eyes determinately onto the road in front of her, "Let's hope he has some answers for us."

* * *

"Does Stefan know about this?"

"You're gonna need to be a _little _more specific," Damon answered nonchalantly. He saw Elena shoot him an annoyed look from the corner of his eye. "Well, _technically _I'm not kidnapping you this time," he reminded her. "I told you where we were going...and besides, this wasn't even my idea."

"Yeah, yeah. You already blamed Bonnie like five times," Elena muttered. She still had a hard time believing that Bonnie had willingly sent her on this road trip; it was a little suspicious. What was Bonnie up to, anyway?

"I'm wondering that myself," Damon said, seeming to read her mind. "Let's just hope she doesn't do anything stupid while we're gone."

"At least Caroline is still there..."

"Oh yeah. That's real reassuring. Vampire Barbie is going to have her hands full with the whole Tyler situation, anyway." He gripped the steering wheel tightly for a split second and added, "She better not get herself killed."

Elena smiled to herself. It was nice to know that he cared about what happened to Caroline, no matter what he said or did otherwise.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she answered innocently. She paused, noticing that he had never answered her original question. "So what did you tell Stefan?" she pressed. "Does he know that—"

"That you're with me? Yes, he does," Damon said firmly. "Imagine what you would do if we left you alone for five minutes," he grinned when she glared at him. "Besides," he drawled, "You wouldn't want to be the only Gilbert not road-tripping this weekend, would you?"

"What?"

"Jeremy is driving down with Rose to see Slater, and Jenna is driving with Rick down to Duke to look through Isobel's research. You'd be the only Gilbert not going on a road trip," he clarified. "And it was either _this_, or being under lockdown in your house. All weekend. By yourself."

Elena pursed her lips, "Well, when you say it like that...I guess this isn't _so _bad."

"My company is better than no company, right?" Damon smirked at her, but waited to see if she would answer.

She hid her smile, but her lips curved upwards slightly. "The jury's still out on that one. We'll see."

"Oh come on," Damon cajoled. "We're on our way to finding more _witches_. Ones that are strong enough to a) break the spell on the moonstone; and b) get Stefan out of that tomb. I would say that sounds like a pretty exciting weekend for the average teenager."

Elena grinned, "Since when have I ever been _average_?"

"Oh that's right," Damon teased, "I forgot that you like to think you're _special_." He waited for her comeback, but none came. He turned to look at her, and frowned when he saw her eyes were unfocused. "Elena?"

'_You're the doppelganger, Elena. You're special.' _Katherine's voice came to her, the faint wisp of a memory tugging at the edges of her mind. Dimly, she heard Damon calling her name and she snapped back to reality. "Huh?

He was staring at her, a strange look in his eyes. "You seemed like you were in another world there for a moment..."

"Sorry," she said quickly, "I just, um, remembered something. It's not important...what were we talking about?"

"_Elena," _he said warningly. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing," she insisted. "So," she said brightly, picking up the map that was lying in her lap. "Where are we going first?"

"You're a horrible liar," he said conversationally. He waited a beat to see if she would say anything else, and heaved a sigh when she didn't. "There are five families on the list that Bonnie gave me. I told Rose to check out the one in West Virginia, since they were headed that way anyway. There's also one in North Carolina, which I told Alaric to check out after Duke."

Elena nodded, eager to keep this conversation going so Damon wouldn't ask her any more questions. "So, where are the other three families located?"

"One in D.C, one in New Jersey..."

"And?"

He grinned, "And one in Georgia."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Of course," she muttered under her breath.

"I was thinking we could stop by that bar again," Damon continued, grinning. "What do you think? Feel like getting drunk again?"

She smacked his arm and shot him a look to show that she was _not _amused.

Damon only laughed again.


	9. Missed Calls

"Dead? What do you mean _dead_?"

"I mean, there's a stake through his heart. Looks like he's been dead for a couple weeks, now."

Damon groaned, resisting the urge to throw his cell phone out the window. He paced across the hotel room several times, contemplating what to do now. "He's _your _friend, Rose. Couldn't you have told me he was a loose cannon?"

"I hardly think he staked _himself_," Rose snapped, her voice a low whisper. "I think maybe Klaus caught up with him."

There was a short pause as Damon considered this idea. "It's highly unlikely that Klaus would have been in the next state over from Mystic Falls and not have paid Elena or Katherine a little visit," he said finally, frowning. "No, Slater must have been killed by someone else."

"Exactly how many vampires do you think are after Elena, anyway?"

"Who knows," Damon answered impatiently, "That girl attracts more trouble than, well, _me_."

"Tell me about it," Rose mumbled under her breath, "Did you two reach Georgia yet?"

"No, I didn't want to drive through the night. Too easy for an ambush."

"So where are you?" Rose asked curiously, "Don't tell me you're in a hotel."

"Yes, and before you get any _ideas, _I'll have you know that I was a perfect gentleman and got Elena a completely separate room, okay?"

Before she could respond, there were some muffled shouts from her end and she yelled something back before turning her attention back to the conversation. "I've got to go. Jeremy and that vampire-wannabe found something on Slater's computer."

"Wait, what? Who are you with?"

"Oh, Slater's girlfriend. Jeremy bribed her into hacking into Slater's computer. Hopefully we can find something useful on there."

"Alright," Damon said stiffly, "But don't hang around there too long. Whoever killed Slater might come back."

"Yeah, I know. We'll be careful, I promise. And don't worry, we'll head straight over to that witch-family when we're done here. In the meantime, why don't you tell Stefan the latest so he can find out if Klaus visited Katherine or not?"

"I will. Take care of Jeremy," Damon added before hanging up. With a sigh, he walked into the hallway and paused outside the room next door. Tilting his head, he could hear Elena in the shower. Satisfied that she hadn't attempted to escape yet, he walked back into his room to call Stefan.

.

.

"You know, I always knew you were an innocent Stefan, but I never knew you could be _this _naïve," Katherine mused as she strutted around the tomb, throwing pointed glances over to Stefan. "Trusting Damon and Elena is one thing, but giving them your blessing to go on some romantic getaway is completely—"

"It wasn't a romantic getaway," Stefan snapped, sitting up to glare at Katherine. "Now will you please shut the hell up?"

Katherine laughed, and pouted. "Don't tell me you're _already _getting sick of me...Why, there was a time when you were willing to give up _everything _to spend a lifetime with me..."

"I was—"

"You weren't compelled," she said sharply, "So stop using that as an excuse. I never compelled your love, and you know it."

"Like you said, I was innocent," Stefan said, leaning back against the cave wall. "I couldn't see the real you."

"Ouch," she said sarcastically, "That hurts."

He turned away, "Good."

"Oh, your conversational skills are blowing me away," Katherine rolled her eyes. "Come on, Stefan. You can't hate me _that _much. If you're gonna be stuck in this cave with me, we might as well talk...or not talk," she added suggestively.

"You want to talk?" Stefan growled, "Fine, let's talk about why you've made it your life's mission to make _my _life living hell—" He broke off as his cell phone rang in his pocket. Before he could answer it, Katherine blurred over to him and slammed him easily against the wall. "What the—what are you doing?"

With a manic glint in her eye, she clenched her hand around the phone in his pocket and easily crushed it. The ringing stopped, and Stefan stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and fury. "No contact with the outside world, Stefan," she shrugged remorselessly. "Now you have only me to keep you company," she smiled sweetly, "What were we talking about?"

.

.

"We're still looking through boxes," Alaric said impatiently, "Why are you calling?"

"Who are you talking to?" Jenna called from the other side of the room, where she was admiring some of the books on the shelves. "Is that Elena and Jeremy?"

"No, it's Dam—er, it's just an old friend."

"I'll have you know that I'm neither _old _nor a _friend_," Damon said impishly, grinning when he heard Alaric groan in annoyance.

"What do you want, Damon?" Alaric asked, lowering his voice as he walked out of the office and into the hallway. "I kinda have my hands full here."

"Stefan isn't picking up his cell phone, and neither is the witch or Blondie. Do you know what's going on?"

"No, like I said, we're still at Duke. Oh, but I do have some news...it's about the address of the witch-family you told us to check out."

"Any luck?"

"No, the house was completely empty. It was boarded up, and the neighbors said that there had only been some old lady living there. She apparently died a few years ago, and no one has bought the house since."

"Why, was it cursed?" Damon joked, then realized that it could very well be the case. "Actually, don't answer that. If you don't find anything useful in Isobel's stuff, then just go straight home and see what the Scooby gang is up to, okay?"

"I don't really think that's the best name for—"

"Bye Rick," Damon hung up.

.

.

Bonnie pressed the 'ignore' button on her cell phone for the umpteenth time. Since when had Damon gotten so annoying, anyway?

"Jealous boyfriend I should know about?" Luka asked, grinning as he gestured to her phone.

"Oh! No, nothing like that," Bonnie said quickly, deciding to put her phone on silent for the time being. "It's just my...aunt. She likes to talk a lot; I'll talk to her when I get home."

"Okay," Luka smiled at her, and handed her a box of candles. "Anyway, I was thinking we could set these up on the terrace? They'll have to be in a circle...then we can start the spell."

"Sounds good," Bonnie smiled back at him as she followed him out the door. As she walked through the hallway, she caught a glimpse through another open door, presumably Luka's father's bedroom. Bonnie paused, her brow furrowing when she caught sight of a shirt lying on the bed. She could've sworn Elena had a shirt exactly like that...

"You coming?" Luka asked, realizing she was no longer behind him.

"Yeah," Bonnie said quickly, catching up. "I thought I saw...actually, it's not important." She smiled brightly, "Let's get this spell done."

.

.

"Caroline, would you switch that _thing _off?" her mother said impatiently, looking annoyed. "This is official police business, and I can't have your cell phone ringing every two seconds!"

"Sorry," Caroline said quickly, reaching into her pocket. She bit her lip when she saw that she had about 8 missed calls from Damon. With a sigh, she switched her phone off. "Okay, it won't ring anymore," she said sullenly to her mother.

"Good," Sheriff Forbes turned her attention back to the three other people sitting in her living room. "So...Jules, you said your name was? When was the last time you saw Mason Lockwood?"

"Just before he told me he was coming up to Mystic Falls," Jules said somberly, glancing at Mrs. Lockwood. "He never told me he was coming back to Florida, and he definitely hasn't been home since."

"Then where is he?" Tyler demanded, "He couldn't have just disappeared!"

"Don't worry, Tyler," Sheriff Forbes said soothingly, "We'll find him."

Caroline avoided everyone's gaze. _If they only knew..._

.

.

Damon was scowling at his cell phone in frustration. Was it too much to ask to have _someone _answer any of his calls? They could all be dead, for all he knew. At that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Elena walked in. She noticed his expression immediately, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I had a fight with Alaric," Damon said, deciding it wouldn't be fair to worry Elena any more than she already was. "What's up? Couldn't sleep?" He grinned at her, "Need me to tuck you in?"

Elena gave him a _look. _"No. I just wanted to say..." She took a deep breath, "Thank you. For trying to find a way to break this curse, and...you know. For being there. It means a lot."

Damon was surprised, but he didn't show it. "Don't thank me yet," he said flipping over to switch off the light. "Good night, Elena."

"Good night, Damon."

Elena closed the door quietly behind her, and turned to walk back into her room. She stopped short in shock.

_"Hello, Elena."_

Before she could scream, she felt a sharp blow to her head.

Then all was dark.

* * *

***hands up if you missed my cliffhangers! anyone, anyone? haha =P hmm ****so who do you guys think was waiting for Elena outside her hotel room? ;)**


	10. Just a Dream

"Oh good, you're finally awake."

Elena raised a hand to her throbbing head, and looked wildly around in panic. She felt a bed beneath her, and scrambled up to sit against the headboard. "Wh—where am I?" she stammered, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness.

"Relax. You're still in your hotel room; it would be too much trouble to drag you somewhere else."

As the room around her grew in focus, she realized she really was still in the hotel. She breathed a small sigh of relief, "And Damon…?"

"Is still next door, don't worry your pretty little head about that. He didn't hear a thing, and I would prefer to keep it that way."

"Why?" Elena questioned belligerently, "I could yell for him right now."

"You could, but you won't."

Elena frowned, raising her hand to her vervain necklace. "You can't compel me," she said firmly, tightening her hand around the pendant.

"As if I would ever compel my own daughter," Isobel gave her a twisted smile as she came out of the shadows. "Sorry about your head by the way, but I couldn't have you screaming for help. That would have ruined everything."

"Still with the cryptic talk, I see," Elena glared. "Some things never change. Who are you working for this time? It can't still be Katherine, because she's—"

"In the tomb, I know," Isobel rolled her eyes, "And what makes you think that I'm working for someone? Can't I be here of my own freewill?"

"No," Elena crossed her arms, "Because I know you. You're just like _her_."

"Katherine?"

"Yes. Only in it for herself.

Isobel laughed lightly, and tilted her head. "Yes," she agreed after a moment, "_Petrova _blood does seem to have its fair share of unpleasant qualities."

Elena perked up, "You knew? About Katherine's history? About the doppelganger curse?"

"What I know," Isobel folded her hands on her lap, "Is that you have been betrayed."

"Excuse me?"

"I've come to warn you of several things," she continued, as if Elena hadn't spoken. "Someone you trust has betrayed you."

"Who? Stefan?"

A smile flickered on Isobel's face. "Now, why would your mind immediately jump to Stefan_? _Would it be because he's stuck in the tomb with a certain _ex-lover_ of his?

"Emphasis on the _ex _part of that statement," Elena said tensely. "Don't twist around my words, Isobel. Who are you talking about?"

"The witch. You might want to tell her to choose her friends a bit more carefully."

"Bonnie?" Elena attempted to get out of bed, but the pounding in her head only grew worse. "No, she wouldn't betray me."

"Oh, because she hasn't before? I seem to recall a certain Founder's Day incident...didn't Damon nearly die?"

"That was along time ago..." Elena hesitated, "Bonnie's reached a new understanding with Stefan and Damon now. They're friends. Sort of."

Isobel stood up to stare out the window. "I didn't say that she was _intentionally _betraying you. Now, the second thing I need to tell you is about Elijah."

"Elijah? How do you know him?" Elena shook her head, "It doesn't matter. He's dead. Damon staked him."

"He's not dead," Isobel corrected, "Originals are a bit harder to kill off than that."

"He has to be dead—I saw him die!"

"You saw nothing of the sort. Elijah is alive and kicking. In fact, I'm fairly sure he'll be _kicking _down your door in the near future." Isobel shifted restlessly around the room, and muttered under her breath, "And you're not the only one he'll be after at this point..."

"Do you know him?" Elena persisted, "How do I kill him? What about Klaus?"

"I've never had to pleasure of meeting him, nor do I want to." Isobel strode over to the window, and pulled it open. She turned to give Elena a slightly rueful smile, "I wish I could tell you more, but I can't." She hesitated, "Don't tell Damon—or anyone—that you saw me. But warn the others about Bonnie and Elijah. That way, you just might have a chance to live."

With those final words, she disappeared.

.

.

Damon tossed and turned, his eyelids felt heavy and his mind felt weighed down with some sort of presence. It was similar to the feeling of having vervain pumped into his body, but he didn't feel any of the sting normally associated with the herb. In fact, the closest he had ever felt to feeling like this was when he had been human—and subject to Katherine's compulsion.

But that didn't make any sense...he was a _vampire_. There was no way he was being compelled...

With that in mind, he slipped into a rather vivid dream state.

He was standing alone in black room. There was nothing else as far as the eye could see...just everlasting darkness stretching forever all around him. "_Hello?_" Damon called out, a frown marring his features. _"Is anybody here?" _

"_Damon Salvatore,"_ Katherine suddenly appeared next to him, a seductive smile on her lips. "_I knew I could talk to you if I tried hard enough."_

_"No,"_ Damon tried to back away, but found that he couldn't move. "_This is impossible...you're in the tomb!"_

"_Yes,_" Katherine agreed, her lips curling in distaste, "_But you are dreaming."_

_"How are you talking to me? You can't control my dreams from all the way in the tomb..." _Damon trailed off, his voice becoming uncertain.

Katherine laughed as she began circling him, her hips swaying dauntingly. "_Maybe not. But Elena is your weakness. Always has been, always will be." _

_"What does this have to do with Elena?" _Damon growled, "_What do you want, Katherine?" _

_"Elena and I, we're connected_," Katherine said softly, her eyes widening with just the right amount of sincerity. "_Her thoughts are my thoughts. I can speak to her, you know. Whenever I want..."_

Damon's eyes narrowed, "_What are you talking about?"_

"_We made a deal,_" Katherine said abruptly, "_And there's nothing you can do to stop me. She wants to die, and I'll be the one to get the job done."_

"_Stay away from her!"_ Damon roared, vamping out.

Katherine only laughed again, and began backing away. She stopped suddenly, and her features changed slightly. Damon didn't know how he could pinpoint the difference, but he somehow knew that he was now looking at Elena. She smiled at Damon cruelly, "_You have lost me forever."_

.

"Damon! Open up!"

His eyes flew open, and he lay still in bed for a moment, his mind trying to process what had just happened. "Just a dream," he muttered to himself, refusing to believe that Katherine had found some way to converse with him from the tomb. The implications of _that _theory were just too horrific to imagine.

"Damon!" Elena shouted again, now resorting to pounding her fists against the door.

He instantly blurred to the door and wrenched it open, calming down slightly when he saw nothing was immediately wrong. He smirked at Elena "Is there a reason you're banging on my door past midnight? Because I'll have you know that I don't do booty calls..."

"Oh shut up," she hissed, shoving him inside the door before closing it behind her. "We need to go back to Mystic Falls. Right now."

Damon gaped at her, "_Go back? _It's the middle of the night, Elena! What the hell is going on?"

"Bonnie is in trouble, and so are we," she blurted out incomprehensibly, "We need to go back!"

"Whoa, calm down," Damon said soothingly, grasping her shoulders with a worried look in his eyes. Clearly, he thought she was tethering on the verge of some mental breakdown. "You've obviously had a nightmare, which is completely understandable—"

"No! I know Bonnie is in trouble or—or...she's doing something that's going to get us into trouble! Oh, and Elijah is alive, and—"

"Now, I _know _you had a nightmare," Damon shook his head, "Look, we killed him, remember?"

"It didn't work because he's an Original!" Elena grabbed Damon's arm. "Please," she said desperately, "You have to believe me!"

Damon frowned at her, his dream flickering in his mind. "Who told you that?" he asked carefully, "Katherine?"

"What?" she looked caught off guard, "No. Why would she tell me that?"

"I don't know," he responded suspiciously, "You tell me." He broke off when his cell phone began ringing, and glanced down at the caller I.D. With a sigh, he held the phone at his ear. "Rose, this is really not the best time...you did _what_? You went on a witch hunt at _this time of night_? What part of _be safe _did you not understand—I don't care if it looked like no one was home!" He scowled heavily as Rose continued talking, and then his eyes widened with surprise. "Are you sure? That's what it said? Yeah, yeah...okay, we'll be there soon."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Elena asked immediately when he slowly put down the phone. "Is Jeremy okay?"

"He's fine," Damon answered slowly. "Rose and Jeremy went to go check out that witch-family in West Virginia, and they found the house. Apparently no one was home, so they looked through the mailbox to see who all the envelopes were addressed to..."

"And?"

Damon met her gaze, "The house belonged to Lucy Bennett._" _

* * *

**A/N: **Happy Holidays to all my wonderful reviewers! if you're all realllyyy good, then i just MIGHT have a new chapter up for christmas morning ;)

**p.s. **Lucy is the witch that was helping Katherine in the Masquerade ball earlier this season.


	11. Too Good to be True

"I can't believe we're still going to Georgia!" Elena fumed, stomping her foot unnecessarily against the car floor.

"Stop with the temper tantrum, already," Damon answered in a bored tone. "Look, we were only an hour away from the address of this potential _witch_. It would be a shame to have come all this way for nothing."

"Who cares! Rose said they already found Lucy Bennett anyway—"

"No, they found her _house_," Damon corrected, "We have no idea where she actually is. Alaric ran into a dead end in North Carolina, so this is our only other option." Elena crossed her arms with a glare, and turned to look resolutely out the window."Oh, are you ignoring me now?" Damon asked, sounding amused. "Quit acting like such a child, Elena. We'll be back in Mystic Falls soon enough. See, it's only like 6 AM right now...so, if nothing else goes wrong, then we'll be back in Mystic Falls by tonight."

"Oh yeah? What if Klaus and Elijah get there before that?" Elena demanded in a hard tone, "What if Bonnie has already done something to put us all in danger?"

"Like what? Trust me, that little witch doesn't have it in her to do anything_ too_ catastrophic."

"And you know what your problem is?" Elena suddenly snapped, "You always make the mistake of underestimating your enemies!"

Damon's eyebrows rose, "Oh, so now Bonnie is an _enemy_?"

"No! Just —ugh, forget it!" she slumped against the passenger seat in defeat, "Don't believe me."

"I would _love _to believe you, Elena," Damon drawled, "Except you haven't exactly presented any evidence to your case...Am I just supposed to turn this car around based on some random _feeling _you have?" Elena bit her lip, but didn't say anything. "Look," he lowered his tone, "I _know _you, Elena. I know someone must have told you all this. I just want to know _who_."

"No one."

"I can only think of a few people," Damon mused, ignoring her. "So who was it? Elijah? Klaus?"

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, "I'm pretty sure I'd be dead if I ran into either of them."

"Fair point. Katherine?"

Elena froze, "What?"

"You heard me," Damon said easily, "Did Katherine tell you that Elijah was still alive?"

"No...I've been either locked up in the house or with you the entire time! How could I have randomly talked to Katherine?"

Damon hesitated before deciding to come clean. "She spoke to me, you know. Last night."

Elena stared at him in confusion, "Um...she's in the tomb, Damon."

"That she is..Do you know how disconcerting it is to know that your _ex _can invade your mind anytime she wants? Let me tell you, it's a bitch."

"That's...impossible," Elena said slowly, "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

"Leave it up to Katherine to achieve the impossible," he grinned, sounding half-admiring and half-annoyed. "She did say something interesting though. Want to hear it?" He didn't wait for an answer, "She said that she can control my dreams because of _you_. Something about how she's connected to you. Do you know anything about that?"

Elena swallowed, "No."

"And what is this deal that she was yammering on about?"

"Um..."

"You better not be holding out on me, Elena," he said warningly. "I understand that you think that your death would somehow solve all our problems, but it _won't_. Got it?"

"Yeah, whatever," she muttered under her breath. She squinted her eyes against the sunrise, "Are we almost there?"

"We'll be there soon," he glanced at his cell phone, "Everyone else should be heading back to Mystic Falls right now, so we'll at least know what's going on over there soon, okay?"

Elena nodded and leaned back against the seat, letting the sun's rays wash over her body. She closed her eyes, feeling oddly relaxed. The sun was shining, they'd found a witch...maybe everything would work out, after all.

Then, suddenly, her eyes flew open. She didn't know what it was—maybe everything felt _too _perfect—but a chill ran through her veins, and she grasped the edges of her seat in fear. "Stop the car," she commanded, her voice shaking. "Damon, pull over!"

He looked at her, startled, "What—?"

"Do it! Just pull over!" she shouted, and he hastily pulled over to the side of the road. Within a second, he had gotten out of the car and blurred to open the door for her as she fumbled with the seatbelt in her haste to get out. He silently unbuckled it for her, and watched as she knelt onto the ground, breathing erratically.

"Elena..." he crouched down next to her, looking extremely concerned. "What's going on? What happened?"

She sat on the ground, and rested her head against the car with closed eyes, her heart racing with fear. _What's wrong with me? _She jumped when she felt Damon touch her arm lightly, "I—I don't know. I just have this horrible feeling..."

He leaned in closer, his brow furrowed. "Did you get some kind of vision? Is Bonnie trying to communicate with you...like telepathically or something?" he asked urgently, sweeping her hair out of the way as he placed a hand on her forehead. "Elena, you're burning up," he said worriedly.

"No," Elena breathed out, trying to think. Something burned at the edges of her mind, and she closed her eyes again in an effort to see what it was.

_'NO, no! What are you doing here! How did you find us!—?' Katherine screamed in terror, backing away into the cave walls. 'You can't be here!'  
'Who are you?' Stefan took a step backwards, 'What do you want?'  
__'I've only come for what is mine,' Elijah smiled coldly, 'My sweet Katerina...'_

"Oh god," Elena doubled over, feeling sick. She felt Damon wrap his arms around her, trying to pull her back up. "It's over," she whispered, looking up into Damon's frantic gaze. "He found us."

"What?" Damon shook her slightly, "Elena, _who?_"

But she didn't hear him. Even as she lost consciousness, she understood. She hadn't gotten any vision or telepathic communication...she had merely _felt _Katherine's fear, felt _her_ terror at seeing Elijah in the caves. So it was true; she was connected to Katherine after all.

With that depressing thought in mind, the darkness closed in on her.


	12. Friendly Fire

"How did you get in here?" Katherine hissed, stumbling as she hurriedly moved backwards to the far end of the cave. "Th—there's a spell…you can't get out!"

Elijah merely tilted his head, and turned to look at Stefan. "Salvatore…you protect the doppelganger, do you not?"

Stefan gritted his teeth, "With my life."

"Undoubtedly that's what it'll come down to," Elijah responded emotionlessly. "I wouldn't worry if I were you, Klaus has not yet learned of the girl's existence."

Stefan exchanged a glance with Katherine as he absorbed this information. "You mean…you haven't told him yet?"

"That's right," Elijah answered pleasantly. "Of course, there is nothing to stop him once he learns of her existence. And once he learns the location of his beloved Katerina…"

"Klaus can't use me!" Katherine snapped, her back against the wall. "I made sure of that when I turned! "

"He may not be able to _use _you, but he sure as hell is going to extract his revenge on you," Elijah smiled coldly. "Is that not the reason you have been running _all _these years?"

Katherine didn't answer, and threw a frantic look in Stefan's direction. He took a step forward, positioning himself in front of Elijah. "What exactly do you want here? Katherine's right…the tomb is cursed—"

"I know fully well what this tomb was used for," Elijah interrupted in a steely tone. "But I have powerful friends."

Stefan closed his eyes, and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "You know a witch," he stated in realization, "Of course you do."

"Of course I do," Elijah agreed, "Which brings us back to why I'm here."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"Katerina—or should I say _Kat —_needs to leave with me. Now."

"Or _what_?" Katherine spat, "You can't make me go anywhere with you!"

"Or else…I will find Elena this very instant, and turn her over to Klaus," Elijah replied. "Your choice."

"What makes you think I care about—"

"Because you want to use her for yourself," Elijah cut across Katherine, "So, I suggest you come with me."

Stefan looked between Katherine and Elijah, not understanding the standoff they were having. "You're bluffing," he said finally, glaring at Elijah. "You have no idea where Elena is."

"Oh no?" Elijah gave a twisted smile, and reached into his jacket. Stefan blinked in confusion when Elijah pulled out a familiar-looking hand mirror.

"Isn't that...Elena's?" Stefan asked, frowning. "How did you get it?"

"Powerful friends," Elijah reminded him. He then blurred to Katherine, and reached out to grab her wrist. She winced when he pulled out a dagger and pierced the tip of her ring finger. He held the dagger up to his eye, and examined the drop of blood there. "This will do," he murmured, and held the dagger downwards so that the drop of blood fell into the mirror.

Stefan leaned forward in spite of himself when he saw that the blood seemed to have disappeared _into _the mirror. "What are you doing?" he demanded, "What spell is that?"

"You'll see."

* * *

Elena felt a drop of something cold fall on her forehead, and she frowned as she struggled to open her eyes. "Ah, looks like she's coming 'round," an unfamiliar voice said, "Go get more water, will you dearie?"

"Will do," Damon's voice answered, and Elena relaxed slightly. After several moments, she felt a washcloth being placed on her forehead. The warmth was soothing, and she blinked her eyes open. A face swam into her vision—an elderly woman with a friendly smile.

"Looks like your girlfriend is finally awake," the woman called to Damon, before turning back to Elena with a smile. "How are you feeling, dear? It looked like we lost you there for a minute..."

Elena tried to sit up, her eyes darting around the room. She was in a cozy little house; presumably it belonged to the old woman. It was by no means cluttered, but it definitely had a _lived-in _feel to it. "Wh—where am I?" she asked, her gaze landing on Damon.

He looked immensely relieved to see that she was awake, and he took a seat on the coffee table in front of the sofa that Elena was lying in. "We're still in Georgia," he told her soothingly. "I told Grandma Martin here that you passed out on the highway and I couldn't wake you up...Luckily, she was kind enough to invite us into her home."

"Passed out...?" Elena winced, raising a hand to her forehead. She turned to look at the old woman, and tried to smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Martin. I—"

"None of this 'Mrs' formality!" the woman exclaimed, "Please, call me Grandma Martin." She smiled eagerly, "The rest of my grandkids do."

"Oh...ah, okay," Elena agreed awkwardly. She exchanged a glance with Damon, whose eyes were unreadable.

"I was telling Grandma Martin here about how we were taking a little road trip from Mystic Falls," he announced suddenly, "And you'll never believe what she told me."

"Oh yes!" the woman said excitedly, "I was telling your boyfriend here that one of my grandkids just moved up there! In fact, I think he might be about your age...he just enrolled at the high school!"

Elena froze, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Oh really?" she asked, attempting to sound casual. "Maybe I know him...what's his name?"

"Luka...he's such a good boy," she said fondly, "Have you met him?"

"Luka Martin," Elena said slowly, "It sounds familiar..."

"Yes, well," Damon said with a smile, "We'll certainly have to _meet him _once we get back to Mystic Falls, don't you think so?"

"Of course," she replied tightly, and turned to smile at Grandma Martin. "Thank you so much for your hospitality, but we really should be heading back home..."

"Oh, so soon?" the old woman sighed, "Alright, well let me at least get your tea for you. I put a kettle on while we were waiting for you to wake up." She hobbled out of the room into the adjoining kitchen, and Elena turned to look at Damon.

"You had me worried, Elena," he said in a low whisper, his gaze intensely on hers. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I'll tell you later," she whispered back as the old woman walked back into the room, holding a tray with three teacups. "Thank you so much," Elena said, taking the offered cup into her hands.

"Drink up," the woman urged, "A little warmth is good for the soul."

Elena saw Damon roll his eyes, and she smiled in response. She was just about to raise the cup to her lips, when she happened to look at the contents.

And saw Elijah's face staring back at her.

She screamed, dropping the cup with a crash.

Damon leapt up in surprise as the hot liquid spilled everywhere, including all over Elena. "What the hell?" he hurriedly reached out to wipe the boiling tea off of her, when he suddenly gave a roar of pain. He stared at his hands in horror as they began blistering before his eyes.

_Vervain_.

He whirled around just in time to see Grandma Martin standing tall, her hands on her hips. _"_I knew it!" she hissed, "_Vampire..."_

_._

_._

Elijah placed the mirror back into his jacket, ignoring Stefan and Katherine's horrified expressions. "So, as you can see, I know perfectly well exactly where Elena is at this very moment," he crossed his arms. "What will it be, Katherine?"

"Elena's in trouble!" Stefan said wildly, "Who was that woman? Where are they!"

Elijah gave a soft sigh of impatience. "Let me sweeten the deal for you, then. If Katherine comes with me now, then I will _personally _head over to Georgia and save your brother and Elena. Do we have a deal?"

Stefan stared at him, his mind whirling frantically. He blurred over to Katherine, and whispered pleadingly. "Come on, Katherine...it's Elena we're talking about. _Please." _

Katherine glared at him, her expression impassive.

"Do we have a deal?" Elijah repeated, "I don't have all day..."

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to decide. After several moments, she peered grudgingly around Stefan to nod at Elijah, "We have a deal."

Stefan sagged against the wall in relief. As Katherine passed him to leave, he reached out to grab her arm, "Thank you."

She gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You owe me, Salvatore."

Within the next instant, she and Elijah had both disappeared.


	13. Together Again

**A/N: **Happy New Year everybody! Only 25 more days till new episodes! :)

* * *

"Right," Rose announced, standing with her arms crossed in front of the fire place. "As I'm sure we all know, there's been a few...technical difficulties."

"Such as the fact that Isobel had no research on the Originals, as far as I could tell," Alaric said, leaning against the sofa with a tired groan. "I brought back a bunch of boxes though, if anyone wants to look through them. I never thought I'd say this, but I am sick of looking through _books_."

"Understandable, for a teacher," Rose said, a small smile on her lips. "Don't worry about it, I'll go through them later." She turned to look at Caroline, "And the Tyler situation?"

"The full moon is tonight, but Tyler bought these hardcore chains and stuff...hopefully they'll hold." Caroline shrugged, looking forlorn, "I'll stay with him in the dungeon to make sure he doesn't get out."

"Just don't get too close," Rose warned. She frowned and added as an afterthought, "Do you have any weapons you could use? You know, if things go wrong?"

"I've got that covered," Alaric replied, reaching into his pocket and handing Caroline a small bag. "It's wolfsbane," he explained at her confused expression. "Think of vervain, but for werewolves."

Jeremy tapped his foot impatiently, "Does anyone know where Bonnie is? Isn't she supposed to be here?"

"She said she was gonna be in her room all weekend looking through that grimmoire of hers," Caroline replied, "Maybe she found something."

"Like how to de-spell the moonstone?" Jeremy asked skeptically, "I doubt it. We need another witch to help us anyway."

"Right, so this Lucy Bennett person...does anyone know where we can find her?" Alaric asked, turning to look at Rose, "There were no clues by her house?"

"Only that she hasn't been around for a while," Rose exchanged a glance with Jeremy. "We're going to need Bonnie to do a locator spell to see if she can find Lucy. They're related, so it shouldn't be too hard. I'm pretty sure just using a drop of Bonnie's blood should work."

Alaric raised his eyebrows, "What do you know about witchcraft?"

"When you've lived as long as I have, you pick up a few things along the way."

The four of them fell silent for a few minutes, until Rose finally sighed. "No use in doing nothing. Let's start in on these boxes...maybe something useful will come up." No one made a move to get up, and she frowned in exasperation. "Guys, we can't just give up! We need to..." she suddenly trailed off, hearing a noise from the driveway.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked in alarm as Caroline also tilted her head towards the door, "Is someone here?"

.

"I'm back, honey," Damon said sarcastically as he strolled through the door, Elena at his heels. He dropped his bag on the ground, frowning at the small group gathered in his living room. "Oh yes, feel free to make yourselves at home _when I'm not here_." He rolled his eyes and kept walking through the kitchen and out of sight.

"What's with him?" Jeremy asked, walking forward to give Elena a hug. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, noticing the tired look in her eyes, "What happened?"

"Long story," she slumped on the sofa next to him. "Damon probably went to go get some blood. This old lady attacked him with vervain."

"Excuse me?" Alaric said with a laugh, "An _old lady?" _

"She was a WITCH!" Damon yelled from downstairs, "How the hell was I supposed to know..." His voice trailed off into an offended mutter until they couldn't hear him anymore.

Rose leaned forward excitedly, "You guys found a witch? Why didn't you say so? Did you bring her back?"

"Well, I'm not sure _she _was a witch, exactly," Elena said slowly. "But, she did say that her grandson just moved here. His name is Luka Martin...do you guys know him?"

"Luka?" Jeremy turned to face her abruptly, "No way...I met him! He's...friends with Bonnie, I think."

Elena frowned, noticing that Bonnie wasn't there. "Jer, these people...they were friends with Elijah—he's still alive." She glanced up at Rose, noticing that she didn't look surprised. "You knew?"

"We went to see Stefan," Caroline explained, "He said Katherine made some deal with Elijah. In return for going with him, he said that he'd help you guys out in Georgia."

"Katherine's out of the tomb?" Damon demanded, suddenly appearing in the room. "And Stefan is still in it?" He scowled, "Where is she?"

Rose shook her head, "We don't know. Wherever Elijah took her...which I'm thinking involved a trip to see Klaus."

Elena watched as a flurry of emotions crossed Damon's face, before it became expressionless once more. "So...I guess that means that she's dead."

"Probably," Rose agreed quietly. She turned to look at Elena when Damon didn't respond, "So you saw Elijah?"

"He walked right into Grandma Martin's home...which I guess means that he'd already been invited in. And he told her to let us go because she didn't have the authority to kill Damon. Then he compelled her to forget that she had ever seen us."

Alaric frowned, "Then he just...let you leave?"

Elena nodded, "He told us that we needed to head back to Mystic Falls, and that he had made a deal with someone for our safe return. Then he sort of...vanished."

"Stefan said that Klaus doesn't know you exist, Elena," Rose supplied, "According to Elijah, he hasn't told him yet."

"Okay, forget about Elijah," Damon suddenly snapped, "We need to find this Luka person...where's the witch?"

Jeremy shook his head, his phone at his ear. "Bonnie's still not picking up my calls...do you think she's all right?"

Elena felt a nagging worry in the back of her mind, remembering the warning that Isobel had given her earlier. "We should go see her. What if Luka did something to her?"

Caroline glanced at her watch, looking apologetic. "I hate to do this, but I have to get back to Tyler..." She hesitated, and turned to look at Damon. "Stefan didn't want me to tell you, but there's this woman that's come up from Florida that's looking for Mason Lockwood. They've declared him a missing person."

Damon frowned, "Is she a werewolf, too?"

"If she is, then you need to stay away from her," Alaric said warningly, "We don't need more—" He broke off when Damon suddenly held up a hand, his head turned towards the door. "What is it? Is there someone at the here?"

Caroline sniffed, looking confused. "Hey, I think Bonnie is finally here!" She blurred forward to open the door.

And screamed.

Everyone rushed forward to see what was wrong, and stopped dead on the threshold.

Bonnie lay on the ground, completely knocked out. Behind her, stood Luka.

He was holding the moonstone.

* * *

***sorry if this chapter was a little plot-heavy, but all the truths are gonna start coming out now ;) **


	14. Second Chances

Everyone stared as Luka crouched down and easily picked Bonnie up in his arms. He nodded curtly at Damon as he made his way into the living room and gently deposited Bonnie onto one of the sofas. Jeremy leapt up, but Damon pulled him back, his eyes flashing with anger. "Get back Gilbert, I'll take care of this."

Luka laughed, and suddenly looked straight at Damon.

"No!" Elena cried as Damon fell to his knees, his face contorted in agony. "Please stop—you're hurting him!" Luka didn't even blink, but all he had to do was raise a finger and suddenly two more screams ricocheted around the room. Elena looked up in horror to see both Caroline and Rose fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

"You've made your point!" Jeremy shouted, "You can take out three vampires, we get it! Just stop!"

"Please!" Elena begged, falling to her knees next to Damon. Her heart leapt with terror when his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he appeared to lose consciousness. "No! Damon!" She turned to Luka, anger coursing through her veins. "Stop it! They can't hurt you—just stop!"

Luka tilted his head, and nodded slowly. Within seconds, the pressure in the room eased and he sat calmly down on the sofa, "As you wish."

Elena waited a beat to see if he was going to do anything, but he seemed merely content to examine the repercussions of his spell. She hurriedly turned back to Damon, alarmed that he hadn't moved yet. She leaned over him, shaking him gently. "Damon, hey wake up!" she said urgently, "Come on..."

To her utter bewilderment, a single teardrop rolled down her cheek and landed on Damon's forehead. He stirred, his eyes blinking open slowly. "Elena?" He frowned, raising a hand to her face, "Why are you...?" Suddenly, his expression cleared and was replaced with fury. "I'm gonna kill him! Where is he?"

"Don't," Elena cautioned, pushing Damon back down. "Remember we talked about how you underestimate your enemies?"

Damon started to respond, but suddenly Jeremy called out, sounding panicked. "Elena! I can't get Caroline to wake up..."

Elena whirled around and rushed over to where Jeremy was kneeling, his face worried. "Caroline?" Elena paused, seeing the blood trickling out of her eyes and mouth, "What's wrong with her?" Alaric hurried back into the room from the kitchen, carrying a washcloth in his hands. He carefully began wiping her face, trying to stem the blood flow.

"I'm guessing the blonde one is newly turned?" Luka called out from the sofa. "Newborns are the most susceptible to my...powers. Don't worry, she'll be alright. Eventually."

"There's no way you're that powerful," Rose suddenly said, leaning against the fireplace in exhaustion. "How did you take out three vampires? It's impossible..."

"It _would _be impossible, by myself," Luka agreed, watching as Damon staggered over to a bottle of whiskey and downed it. "Oh, and alcohol won't help with the headache."

"No one asked you," Damon snarled, his hand clenching around the empty bottle until it broke into several pieces. Then, with lightning speed, he suddenly hurled the glass pieces at Luka. Elena gasped in spite of herself when Luka raised his hand and the glass pieces stopped in midair. Inches from his face. She screamed as Luka instantly whipped his wrist the other way and the glass pieces went flying back in the direction they had come from. Damon leapt out of the way at the last minute, and the glass landed harmlessly in the fireplace.

"Don't try that again," Luka said sternly. He watched as Elena hurried over to Damon's side, her expression furious.

"What did we _just _talk about?" Elena hissed at Damon, "Don't _underestimate_!"

"Anyway, as I was saying, I couldn't do it alone_," _Luka pulled out a necklace from this pocket, "Recognize this?"

Elena frowned, "Isn't that Bonnie's? It belonged to her grandmother."

Luka nodded, "That's right. So, using this as a sort of talisman, I can connect my magic with Bonnie's."

"Without her knowledge?" Jeremy seethed, "I don't think she would be very happy to know that you used her magic against _her _own friends—"

"What Bonnie doesn't know won't hurt her," Luka replied back unconcernedly. "Now, believe it or not, we're on the same side."

"Same _side?" _Damon hissed, "Do you even know the meaning of the word?"

Luka smiled serenely, "Alright, I'll prove it to you." He got up and knelt beside Caroline, "May I?" Alaric didn't respond, but hesitantly moved out of the way as Luka placed a hand over Caroline's face. As they watched, a golden light spilled out of his fingertips. Seconds later, Caroline's eyes opened. "See? All better," Luka held a hand out for Caroline, but she didn't take it.

He shrugged and moved backwards as Jeremy peered into Caroline's eyes, "Care...how are you feeling? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she frowned as she tried to get up, "Just a little woozy."

Alaric coughed pointedly, "Shouldn't you be getting _home_? Seeing as how your mom is the Sheriff...?"

Caroline blinked and looked at her watch. "Dammit, is that the time?" She looked torn, and looked towards Damon. "Should I—"

"Go," Damon ordered, "We don't need any more problems."

Caroline didn't need telling twice and she quickly blurred out the door, disappearing into the night. Elena glanced out the window, relieved to see that darkness hadn't completely fallen yet. As long as Caroline got to Tyler _before _the transformation occurred, then everything would be okay...

"You're the history teacher," Luka said conversationally to Alaric. "That is interesting."

"What, history?"

"Sure. My mother..." Luka hesitated, "She was a history buff, too. In fact, she did her thesis on the Salem Witch Trials when she graduated from Duke."

Alaric looked up sharply, "_Duke_, you said?"

"Just hold on a second," Elena interrupted, "You still haven't explained what you're doing here. _Or _who sent you."

"Nobody knows I'm here," Luka scoffed, "My dad would totally freak." He took a deep breath, "See, my mom got into witchcraft early, and she got really powerful. Really fast."

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, "What happened to her?"

"She became obsessed with collecting spellbooks, amulets...anything she could get her hands on. One day, she pissed off the wrong people. My dad...he tried to save her, but he wasn't powerful enough."

"Elijah offered to help him," Rose spoke up, sending a questioning glance in Luka's direction, "Am I right?"

"Yep," Luka stood up and began pacing the length of the living room. "And now my dad is forever indebted to Elijah. Basically, if he says _jump—"_

"You say _how high_," Rose finished, "Yeah, Elijah can be like that."

Luka nodded, looking thoughtful. "We moved here on Elijah's orders. He knew who Bonnie was, and he wanted us—me—to get close to her. Close enough for her to trust me with the 'secret' of the moonstone."

"Does he know you have it?" Damon demanded, but Luka quickly shook his head.

"My dad didn't expect Bonnie would ask me for help with it so quickly. But I staged a spell that would make it look like the moonstone was destroyed. In reality, it remained intact. The spell required a lot of power, in either case, and Bonnie passed out. I decided to bring her—and the moonstone—here."

Elena stood up, her arms crossed. "Why? What do you want us to do about it?"

He tossed the moonstone in the air, his expression contemplative. "I'm sick of my family having to do everything Elijah says. I'm sick of having to constantly look over my shoulder to see who's watching." He turned to look at Elena, "I figured you, of all people, would understand what that's like."

"Why _me_? Why would I understand?"

"Oh come on," Luka shrugged, "You must know what it's like; carrying the burden of our ancestors. _Petrova_."

"I'm not sure I understand," Rose interrupted, "What exactly do you want us to do for you?"

Luka's face was set, "Help me kill Elijah."

Elena took a step forward, frowning, "What about Klaus?"

"We'll kill him, too."

"What about—" Elena broke off as Damon roughly grabbed her arm and began dragging her out of the room. "Hey! What are you—?"

"Kitchen. _Now._" Damon snarled as pushed her into the kitchen, and closed the door behind them.

"What's your issue?" she snapped, snatching her arm out of his grasp.

Damon looked livid, "You're actually even THINKING about trusting this moron? Did you _not _see what he did to Bonnie?"

"Keep your voice down!" Elena hissed, looking over her shoulder unnecessarily. "Look, he's here, isn't he? That has to count for something...We need all the help we can get, Damon!"

"No," he said firmly, "We don't need _him_." He began to leave, when Elena grabbed his arm. He spun around, surprised by her sudden proximity. "Elena..."

"Wasn't this the whole point?" she whispered, looking into his gaze beseechingly. "Finding a powerful witch? Someone to get Stefan out of the tomb? Someone to destroy the moonstone?"

Damon gritted his teeth, "Yeah? Well he had the chance to destroy it with Bonnie, _and he didn't_! What makes you think he's going to help us now?"

"If we help him kill Elijah, then he'll owe us," Elena reminded him, "I think we should trust him." With that, she turned on her heel to walk back into the living room. Just as she reached the adjoining door, Damon blurred to stand behind her. She didn't turn around, but suppressed a shiver when she felt his breath on her neck.

"You can't trust _everyone. _He already had his chance, and he blew it," Damon whispered, his hands painfully gripping her shoulders.

"Some people deserve a second chance, Damon. You of all people should know that." She turned around to face him, and swallowed, "After all, I gave you another chance."

He let her go, and stepped away. "It's not the same."

"Yes. It is."

* * *

***more delena coming up :)**


	15. To Be Trusted

"So, what's the verdict?" Luka asked amicably as Elena and Damon walked back into the living room, "Can I be trusted?"

"No," Damon snapped, but kept his mouth shut when Elena threw a glare in his direction.

"Luka," she began, taking a seat across from him. "We'll go along with your plan, but only on one condition—"

"You want me to get Stefan out of the tomb," Luka interrupted with a smile, "That's completely understandable. In fact, we can get started on that as soon as Bonnie has had time to regain her strength."

"She's still out cold," Rose pointed out, gesturing to Bonnie's unconscious form on the sofa. "Do you really need her for the spell?"

"Yes," Luka said firmly, "I think it would be easiest if we combined our powers."

Jeremy glared, "Because that worked out so well last time." He leaned conspiratorially towards Damon, "Hey, why can't we just ask him to do the locator spell on—"

"No," Damon interrupted pointedly.

Luka looked interested, "Are you guys looking for someone?"

"Yeah, a witch," Jeremy went on, ignoring Damon. "Can you find her for us?"

"I could try," Luka agreed, "What's her name?"

"I will _break _your neck if you utter one more word," Damon hissed at Jeremy, and he fell silent. Too late, Damon realized this might not have been the best choice of words. One look at Elena's expression confirmed that. "Elena...look, I didn't mean..."

"Whatever, Damon," Elena dismissed, turning back to look at Luka. "Have you thought about how you're going to do this? Do you even know where Elijah is?"

"Well, no. But he'll come running if he thinks the doppelganger is in danger."

Elena didn't flinch, "So I have to be the bait? How?"

Jeremy exchanged an enraged look with Damon. "You're not going to use my sister as bait!"

Luka's gaze flicked over to Damon before he responded, "Elijah took Katherine out of the way because of the deal you had with her. He knew that Katherine had agreed to kill you if you got her out of the tomb."

"We get it," Alaric said impatiently, "Elijah will do everything to protect Elena until Klaus gets her. What's your plan?"

"I need to pretend I'm going to turn into a vampire," Elena said suddenly, her voice a deadly calm. "He'll think that I'm pulling a Katherine, and he'll come running."

"Exactly," Luka smiled. "Once he's close enough, Bonnie and I can use a spell to weaken him..."

"And what exactly are you going to do then?" Rose demanded, "You still can't kill him with a stake, he won't be affected by vervain..."

"A werewolf!" Jeremy exclaimed, "You need a werewolf bite to kill a vampire...even an Original would be killed, right?"

Luka nodded carefully, "I know that there are a couple werewolves in Mystic Falls. The question is, would any of them help us?"

"A couple?" Damon frowned, "Who do you know?"

"Tyler Lockwood," Luka responded immediately, "And the woman that's looking for Mason Lockwood. Her name is Jules, I believe."

Alaric cleared his throat, "Er, and are you on speaking terms with either of these people?"

"Well, no," Luka admitted, "But that doesn't mean that they wouldn't _love _the chance to take down a vampire..."

"Not Tyler," Elena said sharply, "He's not...I mean, he's our friend!"

"Speak for yourself," Damon muttered, "I can't stand the kid."

"Caroline wouldn't let us, and neither would Stefan," Rose reminded all of them, speaking pointedly to Damon. "Don't forget that."

"Fine," Damon threw his hands in the air in surrender, "I guess someone will have to make BFFs with Jules, like tonight, or this isn't happening."

"It should be a human," Luka put in, glancing around the room. "I have a feeling she's pretty experienced. She'll know a vampire as soon as she sees one."

"I'll do it," Jeremy volunteered, flashing his ring in the process. "She can't kill me, anyway."

"Then I'll go with you," Alaric added, showing Luka his own ring. "She can't get either of us."

Luka nodded, "Okay. You should go before it gets any later out. The whole plan will be ruined if we don't get this done on the full moon."

Alaric and Jeremy both stood up to leave, and Jeremy gave Elena a quick hug as they left. "Be careful," Elena called after them, looking worried. After the door closed, she turned to look at Luka. "Now what?"

"I know a guy," Luka began, "That's a spy for Elijah—"

"Oh, you mean yourself?" Damon asked innocently, "Or did you mean your father?"

"Neither. Elijah would never trust _one person_ to know all his secrets. He entrusts several people at any given time. So, if one betrays him..."

"There's another to take his place," Rose finished, nodding. "Sounds about right. So, who's this guy you know?"

"He's not a warlock or a vampire. He's just a human guy that's been compelled to do Elijah's bidding. He keeps watch over Elena, Bonnie, and pretty much anyone who's in any way connected to the doppelganger. All you have to do, Elena, is stage a loud conversation about how you're planning on turning into a vampire in front of him. That'll send him running off to tell Elijah, who will then immediately come here."

"Alright," Elena agreed, "A conversation with whom?"

"Me," Damon said flatly, "No arguments about it."

"Fine."

He looked slightly surprised that she had agreed to it, but he didn't comment. "Hey, look," Rose suddenly said, rushing over to Bonnie. "It looks like she's starting to wake up."

"Uh, Luka?" Elena gestured to him, "Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?"

"Sure..." he looked confused, but followed her out of the room nonetheless.

Damon sat still, his head tilted towards the swinging kitchen door. What did Elena have to speak to Luka about privately?

_"What's up?"  
"I just want you to promise me something," Elena whispered quietly, "It's about Stefan."  
__"I already told you that we'd get him out as soon as Bonnie wakes up, which it sounds like she's doing now..."  
__"No. I don't want Stefan to know about this. Please. Promise me you won't tell him."  
__"But...don't you want his help?"  
"He wouldn't understand. He'll only get himself killed trying to stop me," Elena murmured back. "Just...leave him in the tomb until this is all over, okay?"  
__"If that's what you want..." Luka trailed off, "Are you sure about this?"  
"Yes," Elena said firmly. "But if anything goes wrong, and something happens to me, then I want you to promise me that you'll get Stefan out. Okay?"  
"Nothing will go wrong," Luka hesitated, "But yes, I promise."  
"Thank you."_

Damon couldn't quite believe what he was hearing, but he supposed it made sense. Stefan would have done the same for Elena, if their roles had been switched. "How's Bonnie?" Elena asked as she walked back into the room. She sent a swift, questioning glance in Damon's direction, probably wondering if he had eavesdropped on their conversation.

He didn't react, and merely reached over to feel Bonnie's pulse. "She's gaining consciousness, but I think it's still going to take a while."

"Okay, how about you guys head over to the Grille, and call me when you get there? I know that's where the spy I mentioned likes to hang around."

"Fine," Damon grabbed his car keys, and gestured for Elena to follow him. "Rose, make sure Bonnie is safe."

"I will."

.

.

They drove in silence for a while, until Elena finally spoke. "I thought you'd be putting up a bigger fight than this."

Damon glanced at her, one hand on the steering wheel. "Why, _whatever _do you mean, Elena?"

"I know you heard," Elena said impatiently, "What I said about Stefan."

"You _wanted _me to hear," Damon corrected. He waited a beat, but she didn't deny it. "He's my little brother, Elena. I want him to be safe as much as you do." He paused and then winked at her, "Though, when he finds out, you will be getting _all _the blame."

She grinned back at him, "Thanks, Damon." She stared down at her hands for a few moments, "And thanks for agreeing to do this. I know you don't like the plan, but..."

"You were right," he interrupted, "I should give Luka a second chance." He met her gaze intensely, "People just might surprise you."

Elena smiled back at him. "Yeah," she agreed, "They might."

Damon didn't say anything as they pulled into the parking lot of the Grille. "Ready to do this?"

She nodded, her expression set, "Ready."

* * *

***see, i can be nice...no major cliffhangers :) soo, what do you guys think of Luka? can he be trusted? =P **


	16. Curtains Close

**A/N: **ooh i was intrigued to see some people guessing about who the spy is! no hints for this one, but a couple of you were right ;)

* * *

Damon settled himself across from Elena into one of the booths in the Grille. As per Luka's instructions, they had picked one of the booths that was fairly in the main area—easy to be seen; easy to be heard. Elena tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and smiled nervously at Damon. Then, with a quick glance around the room, she met his gaze and gave him a single nod. _Game on._

"So," Damon drawled, lounging back against the cushioned booth, "Not that I need a reason for going on a secret date with my brother's _gorgeous_ girl, but I assume you brought me out here for a reason?"

Elena sighed, swirling the straw around in her glass of water. "You know Stefan and I broke up a while ago...but, you're right," she admitted, "I did bring you here for a reason. I actually have a…favor to ask."

"A favor?" Damon waggled his eyebrows, "This sounds promising…"

Elena rolled her eyes, "Not _that _kind of favor, Damon. It's…well, okay. You have to promise not to tell anyone. _Especially _not Stefan." She shook her head, muttering under breath, "He would totally freak out."

"Ah, keeping secrets from my little bro," Damon said thoughtfully, "Nothing new for me there." He leaned forward with a wink, "Though, that's certainly new for _you_."

"Do you promise?" Elena insisted, reaching across the table to grasp Damon's hand. He hid a smirk as he looked down at their joined hands. Elena was speaking with the just the right amount of sincerity, the right amount of uncertainty. In fact, if he hadn't known better, he would totally be buying into this scenario. She was _that_ good.

Damon charmingly raised her hand to his lips, reminiscent of the day they had first met. "Of course I promise, Elena. _Anything _for you." He released her hand, and she quickly brought it back to her own lap, looking slightly rattled.

"Okay," she took a deep breath, "Before you say anything, I want you to know that I've thought about this for a long time. I've weighed all the pros and cons, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

"Sounds serious," Damon commented, tapping his fingers against the table as he subtly looked around the room to see if anyone was listening. He didn't understand why Luka couldn't just _tell _them who the damn spy was. It was one of the many reasons on a long list of why Damon didn't trust their new partner in crime.

"It is," Elena lowered her voice, and then mumbled something.

"What was that?" Damon leaned closer across the table, a hand cupped to his ear innocently, "I didn't quite catch that."

"Turn me," she repeated, her voice still quiet but edged with conviction, "I want you to turn me. Into a vampire."

Damon suppressed a shiver. He knew it was all part of the plan, but still...hearing _those _words come out of Elena's mouth; it was a lot to handle. He stood up abruptly, "I need a drink."

He had barely taken one step in the direction of the bar when Elena grabbed his arm tightly. "No, Damon. _Say _something. Will you do it?"

Damon snarled, and Elena actually slid backwards in her seat in surprise. He leaned over her and hissed, "_Over my dead body."_

_"_Please, Damon," Elena pleaded, her hand reaching out to touch his arm—as if that was going to sway his judgement in any way. "It's the only way to know for certain that Klaus can't use me! You're the only one who can do this for me; you know Stefan never would..."

"Oh yes," Damon snapped, "Because he's the good one and would _never _take a human life, especially not that of the woman he loves. But _me, _on the other hand, I—"

"Would do anything to help me."

Damon frowned down at her as he pretended to reconsider the idea. In reality, this argument would have taken much longer—and would have ended in a much different outcome. But they were out of time for tonight, and so he had to speed the process up.

"True," Damon acknowledged, and he sat down next to her in the booth. She began to slide away, towards the wall, but his hand shot out to grab her wrist. "I _would_ do anything for you," he agreed darkly, "But what do I get in return?"

Elena looked startled, "Wh—what?"

"Oh come on," Damon rolled his eyes, "You think I would just _turn _you so that you and Stefan can have your happily-ever-after for an eternity?" He shifted closer to her, until her back was pressed against the wall. "I'm gonna need a little something in return, Elena," he whispered, and he felt her tense up.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" she punctuated angrily under her breath. It hadn't been part of the plan for Damon to give her a hard time over the issue. He was just supposed to agree to it!

"It's more realistic this way," Damon murmured so that only she could hear. "What if the spy is someone who knows us well? They would know that I would _never _agree to something without some kind of pay back..."

Elena pursed her lips, not admitting that he was right. "Fine," she said, raising her voice slightly. "These are my conditions. If you turn me _tonight_, then I will give you anything you want. Deal?"

Damon raised an eyebrow, and slid a couple more inches to the right in the booth so that he and Elena were molded together. She shot him a glare, and he grinned as he swung an arm around her shoulders. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," he said teasingly.

Her eyes flashed. "Who says I can't keep them?" Elena challenged. Without warning, she suddenly hooked an arm around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. Hard.

Damon's eyes widened in shock when Elena didn't pull away after one kiss, and instead deepened it. "Whoa, whoa," he breathed out, turning his head away, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Making it look real," she whispered back, and leaned in to kiss him again.

"No," Damon tried to push her off. He couldn't believe this. "Now I _really _need a drink," he muttered as he tried to slide out of the booth. He groaned when Elena grabbed his arm again. "_What?"_

She looked confused, "What's wrong? Isn't this what you want?"

He stared at her in exasperation. She really had no idea. "No," Damon said shortly, "It's not." He stood up and jerked his head towards the door, "Look. We have a deal. I'll turn you tonight, but it has to be special."

"What?"

"Midnight. In the woods. Under the full moon," Damon gave her a sinister smile, "Call it poetic justice." He held a hand out to her, which she hesitantly took. "It'll be perfect."

.

They walked in silence back to the car. Damon walked ahead of her, and opened the passenger door. "Get in."

She frowned at him, "Okay, what's your issue? What's wrong?"

"_Not here. _Let's go."

She huffed, "Fine." She slammed the door and buckled her seatbelt. Within moments, Damon tore out of the parking lot, burning a stretch of rubber. After they had driven for several minutes, she said stiffly, "Is it okay to talk now?"

"I suppose."

Elena crossed her arms, "Where are we going?"

"The woods, where do you think? Let's hope the others are already there."

"Okay," she said slowly, and turned to look at his expression. "You realize everything that just happened was part of the plan, right? You know I wasn't _really _asking to be turned into a vampire?"

"Yes, Elena," he responded sarcastically, "I think I can distinguish reality from fiction."

"So...you're mad about the kiss?" Elena asked hesitantly, "I didn't think it would be such a big deal. I thought it would look believable."

"You know, telling a guy that he's _lost you forever_ and then kissing him really sends the wrong message," Damon snapped suddenly, "You might want to reconsider your persuasion techniques."

Elena's mouth dropped open in surprise at his tone. She didn't say anything for a few moments, and twisted her hands anxiously in her lap. "You're right," she said finally, "I never should have said that to you. It was...not a nice thing to say." She paused, "And I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"I don't get hurt," Damon responded predictably. He glanced at her, and relented, "But me and my nonexistent feelings accept your apology."

Elena smiled back at him. She relaxed against her seat as Damon drove further and further into the cover of the woods. "Do you think the spy bought our act?" she asked thoughtfully, "I mean, I thought we were pretty good."

Damon laughed, "Yeah, I think we could give Brad and Angelina a run for their money."

"We could be the next Power Couple," Elena teased back. "Just think of..." she suddenly trailed off, and frowned. Her heart was starting to pound, adrenaline was pumping through her body...Unlike last time, she knew what this was. A warning.

"Elena? You have that look on your face again," Damon stopped the car under a tree, and cupped a hand under her chin. "Hey, look at me. What do you see? What's happening?"

She took shallow breaths, and tried to stay calm. "Elijah is coming."


	17. Sacrifice

Stefan lay still on the slab of cool stone in the cave, his eyes closed. He hadn't seen anyone in two days—not since Elijah had taken Katherine away—and the eerie silence of the tomb was getting to him. He had long since finished off the bottles of blood that Caroline had brought him, and he could feel the last of his energy steadily ebbing away.

It didn't help that he'd been having nightmares—ones that involved Elena dying, or the town being run over with werewolves, or…

All of a sudden, he heard a leaf rustle and he whipped his head around. His mouth dropped open as he slowly sat up, all the time keeping his eyes fixed on what was certainly the mirage in front of him.

"It can't be…"

Katherine only smiled at him, her hands on her hips. "Surprised to see me, Stefan? I thought you'd be happy to know I wasn't dead," she sauntered towards him alluringly, "Our love story can have an ending after all."

Stefan didn't comment on this, and his brow furrowed as he carefully examined her. When she had been taken by Elijah, she'd been a complete mess; her dress in tatters, her hair unkempt, her eyes ragged with exhaustion. But now…

Katherine noticed his baffled stare and she twirled around, showing off her long, flowing white dress. "I look like an angel, don't I?" she grinned, "Talk about hiding the devil within!"

Stefan reached out a hand and touched her newly-formed curls, her plump red lips, her flushed cheeks. "They fed you human blood," he deduced, his voice low with confusion. "They didn't kill you."

Katherine's smile flickered slightly, "No. Klaus hasn't deemed me important enough to meet yet…not until tonight, anyway."

Stefan froze, "Klaus is coming _here_? To Mystic Falls?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Didn't you know? Your brother agreed to turn Elena into a vampire tonight, which Elijah somehow heard about…As you can imagine, he wasn't too pleased—"

"WHAT?" Stefan began shaking his head, "No, Damon would never do that—he would never do that to Elena!"

"Well, he is," Katherine snapped, "Tonight. And there's nothing we can do about it. Elijah is waiting for us outside, and Klaus will be here soon…It's over, Stefan."

"No," he began backing away from her, as one would from a crazy person. "You're wrong…it can't be over!"

"Stefan," she took his hand within hers, pity clear in her expression. "I've accepted it's the end. You should too."

"B-but the spell! How did you get into the tomb? How are we getting out?"

"The spell has been lifted," Katherine began leading him towards the entrance, where he could see Elijah waiting for them.

Stefan stared at his feet as he cautiously walked out of the tomb. "The spell's actually been lifted," he murmured, almost to himself. He lifted his head to look at Elijah, "What do you want? Why do you need me out of the tomb?"

"I thought you might like to see the sacrifice."

"You said you would protect Elena!"

"Until the time came for Klaus to break the curse of the moonstone," Elijah corrected in a steely tone. "If Elena hadn't decided to _turn _tonight, then..." He trailed off, anger flashing across his face. "No matter," he said tightly, "She can't avoid the inevitable."

Stefan and Katherine exchanged a glance as Elijah's phone beeped. He pulled it out, and muttered something under his breath as he glanced at the time. He gestured for them to follow as he blurred up the stairs. "Where are we going?" Stefan snapped when they had all reached the top of the staircase. "You can't just—"

"Don't you want to see Elena?" Elijah questioned, "Follow me." Before he took a single step, he pointed at Katherine and Stefan warningly. "And if you don't _do as I say, _you will regret it. Understood?"

"Understood," Katherine repeated mechanically, ignoring Stefan's frown.

"Good." With one last twisted smile, Elijah took off into the night. Stefan didn't even have time to process what was happening before Katherine grabbed his hand within hers and they were following Elijah with lightning speed.

.

Elena was sitting on the hood of Damon's car, her legs crossed. She watched as he paced back and forth in front of her, and her lips curved upwards in a slight smile. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were actually scared about meeting Elijah again," she commented.

Damon paused, a look of incredulity on his face. "Scared? Me?" He halfheartedly grinned at her, "Never."

"It'll be fine," she said firmly, with more confidence than she actually felt. "Luka and Bonnie are working the spell, Jeremy and Alaric said Jules agreed to the plan, and—"

"And they're coming," Damon suddenly said, looking tense. His head was tilted, listening to something she couldn't hear. "Vampires...three of them. Heading in this direction."

"Three? Who else is he—"

"ELENA!" Stefan shouted, coming into the clearing. He tried to run towards her, but Katherine pulled him backwards, tightening her grip on their already entwined hands.

Damon looked stunned as he looked between Stefan, Katherine, and Elijah. Elena leapt off the car hood in surprise, "Stefan! You're out of the tomb...wh—what's going on?"

Stefan looked beyond furious, "You were going to turn her? Damon, I trusted you with her safety! _What were you thinking_?"

"Don't blame Damon for this," Elena said stiffly when it became clear that Damon wasn't going to say anything. "I asked him to do it."

Elijah sighed, "And now you're all going to die anyway. Such a waste."

"Kill me!" Elena volunteered desperately, "Leave Damon and Stefan out of this!"

"No one is dying till Klaus gets here," Elijah responded calmly. He took a few steps until he was standing directly in front of Elena, "Then you _will _listen to him." Unconsciously, Elena's hand clenched around the pendant on her necklace as she stared back at Elijah defiantly. He noticed and grinned, seeming to find her gesture amusing. "I wasn't compelling you, but you should know that a little vervain isn't going to stop me."

"It's true," Katherine called out, "Vervain won't stop him from compelling you. He can even compel other vampires. I would know."

Elijah suddenly eyed her necklace with interest, "How did you get that back? I thought Rose and Trevor took it away from you?"

"They did. I...got it back," Elena said, frowning when she realized she still didn't know the truth about what had happened.

"_How_?"

Elena shook her head, racking her brain for some sort of clue. "I—I don't know...I don't remember!"

Elijah kept staring into her eyes, and suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Well. That's interesting."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You've been compelled," Elijah noted, "Recently."

"Yeah, Rose and Trevor," Elena snapped.

Elijah seemed to consider this. Then he shrugged, "Well, let's find out, shall we?"

"No—" Damon started, but Elijah silenced him with a look.

"Elena," Elijah's eyes dilated, "_I need you to remember who gave this back to you." _

Her eyes went blank, and fragments of a memory floated to the edge of her mind.

_'I brought you this.'_  
_'I thought that was gone,' Elena said gratefully, 'Thank you.' She reached out for it, but he didn't give it back. _  
_He hesitated, 'I just have to say something.'  
'Why do you have to say it with my necklace?' Elena asked nervously.  
_

_'Because what I'm about to say is probably the most selfish thing that I've ever said in my life.'  
_

_'I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it.  
I love you, Elena. And it's because I love you that...I can't be selfish with you.  
Why you can't know this...I don't deserve you. But my brother does.  
_

_God, I wish that you didn't have to forget this, but you do...'_

Elena's mind cleared as the compulsion wore off, and she blinked. "I remember," she said slowly, disbelievingly. Her gaze landed on Damon, "I remember everything."

* * *

***about time, no? ) **


	18. Moonstone

**A/N: **when I picture Klaus in my head, I think of Jason Dohring (Moonlight, Veronica Mars) or Alexander Skarsgard...keep that in mind for this chapter ;)

* * *

Elena didn't even try to remove herself from Elijah's grip as he gave her a rough shake, "_Well_? Who was it?"

She was too shocked, too stunned to even lie. "D-Damon," she stammered, staring at him, "It was Damon." As she turned to look at Damon, she recognized the flash of vulnerability that crossed his face before he turned away from her.

_God, I wish that you didn't have to forget this, but you do..._

"You…made…" Elena started, but then she trailed off, realizing she had no idea what to say.

"Elena?" Stefan's voice was quiet, almost as if he didn't want to know, "What happened?"

Her eyes flicked around the clearing, from Elijah's curious gaze, to Katherine's narrowed eyes, to Stefan's crossed arms, and finally to Damon—who wasn't looking at anyone in particular.

And so she decided on a partial truth.

She licked her lips nervously, "Damon compelled me to forget that he brought me back this necklace. That's all that happened."

Stefan's expression didn't change, "Why would he do that?"

___I can't be selfish with you..._

Suddenly, inexplicably, Elena felt tears welling up in her eyes. The impact of what Damon had done—what he had sacrificed, what he had given up—hit her hard. "I don't know," she muttered, "But that's what happened."

"That's ridiculous," Stefan stated, staring at Elena suspiciously. When she didn't answer, he turned to look at his brother. "Damon?"

Katherine gave an exaggerated sigh, sounding annoyed. "Who _cares_? It's just a stupid necklace!"

"That's right," Damon said sullenly, still not meeting Elena's gaze. He shoved his hands in his pockets, "It doesn't matter."

Elena gripped the pendant tightly, her knuckles turning white. "That's not true," she said fiercely in a low voice, "It matters."

"Why?" Damon asked belligerently, and Elena frowned at his tone. "It doesn't change anything. I wouldn't want it to change anything."

_I don't deserve you. But my brother does._

Elena looked straight at Damon so that he would know she was speaking only to him. "You're wrong," she said steadily, "It changes a lot."

Stefan was beginning to look angry, "Why are you keeping secrets for him? Did he threaten you?"

Damon whirled around, his expression cold. "Yes, Stefan, that's exactly what happened. I—"

"DAMON!" Rose suddenly appeared in their midst, looking frantic. She caught sight of Elijah and stopped dead, "You're...here. Already?"

"The sacrifice must be made," Elijah said simply, glancing at his watch. "It's almost time..."

Elena glanced at her own watch, hoping that Luka and Bonnie hadn't run into any problems. But Rose was supposed to be with them...so why was she here?

"Looks like you came all this way for nothing," Damon said pointedly to Rose. "Elijah got here before I could turn Elena. And now Klaus is coming...so you should _really _go. Now."

Rose's eyes widened, "Klaus is coming? _Here_?"

"Yes," Damon said impatiently, "So, I would really suggest that you—"

"No one is leaving," a coolly, sarcastic voice interrupted them. Elena felt her blood run cold as a figure stepped out from behind Elijah. She took a step backwards, noticing his gaze was fixed strictly on her.

Elena suddenly felt herself struggling to breathe; she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She sent a quick glance towards Katherine, wondering if she was feeling _her _fear, as well as her own...but then the man spoke, and Elena had no more time to contemplate the situation.

"The doppelganger, I presume," he smiled at her, stepping closer. Elena's heart skipped another beat, but this time it wasn't out of fear. "I apologize," he reached out and gently raised her hand to her lips, "We haven't been formerly introduced."

"Klaus," Elena breathed out, her hand tingling as he released it from his grip.

"So, you've heard of me," Klaus sounded delighted. He moved closer, and she caught a glimpse of his golden eyes. She took in a shaky breath as the silence seemed to almost reverberate around them. Behind his shoulder, she could see Stefan, Katherine, and Damon—their expressions ranging in various degrees of despair.

Elena swallowed, doing her best not to look Klaus directly in the eye. If he was going to compel her—which she was pretty sure he was about to do—she didn't want to make it too easy. Instead, she focused on the other aspects of him, noticing almost immediately his similarities to Damon.

Everything from the tousled hair to the sinister gaze to the suggestive sneer. He was also extremely well dressed, which wasn't a surprise. Elena assumed that the oldest vampire in the world would also be the richest.

But that was where the similarities ended.

Klaus was startlingly pale; much more so than either Stefan or Damon. He also seemed to give off a certain aura...almost a sort of energy that had the air around them cackling with electricity. For the first time, Elena had serious misgivings that Bonnie and Luka would be able to use their powers to weaken him.

He seemed invincible.

"Hmm," Klaus touched her chin with one finger, and Elena shivered at the contact. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"Sacrifice," she murmured, meeting his gaze against her will.

"Yes," Klaus agreed, still peering at her. He closed his eyes, appearing to enjoy something. "Ah, the sound of a single, beating human heart." He shot her one last grin before finally stepping away to acknowledge the other vampires in the clearing.

"I trust your trip went well?" Elijah greeted, bowing his head slightly. "You got my message?"

"Yes, that warlock you are using was able to contact me," Klaus dismissed, his gaze zeroing in on Katherine. "Well, well. We meet again, my love," He blurred to stand in front of her, smiling when Katherine only stared at him with wide eyes. "Have you missed me?" He didn't wait for an answer, and turned his attention to Stefan and Damon. "And, of course, the infamous Salvatore brothers...yes, I've heard a lot about you."

"Really? Because we've heard nothing about you," Damon deadpanned, his eyes narrowed. "It would appear that you don't like to be found."

"That would be correct." Klaus turned to look at Rose thoughtfully, "And you're the one who informed Elijah of the doppelganger's existence?"

"Yes," Rose confirmed, looking slightly nervous. "Myself a-and Trevor."

"I killed him," Elijah supplied. "It was his fault Katerina got away so many years ago."

Klaus' expression darkened, as if he didn't like being reminded of this fact. "And you helped Trevor get away," he scowled at Rose.

And without further ado, shot his hand into her heart.

Elena screamed, her hands flying to her mouth in horror. "No!" Damon shouted, rushing forward to catch Rose's body as she fell into his arms. "Rose?" he whispered, but it was no use.

She was dead.

Klaus examined the heart in his hand with faint curiosity before tossing it carelessly onto the ground. "Now," he smiled pleasantly, "Where's the moonstone?"


	19. Expect the Unexpected

**A/N: **thank you for the wonderful reviews..i'm so glad you all thought Klaus was scary enough ;)

* * *

Elena didn't even realize she had fallen to her knees. She could only stare numbly at Rose's dead body lying in Damon's arms. _I did this,_ Elena thought dimly, _It's all my fault…_

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE THE MOONSTONE?" Klaus roared, and Elena jumped. She looked up to see Elijah take a slight step backwards before holding his ground.

"I know where it is," Elijah began in a placating tone, "It's with that Bennett girl. I just have to—"

"Get. It," Klaus ordered in a deadly whisper, watching through narrowed eyes as Elijah quickly pulled out his cell phone.

Elena tuned out the rest of their conversation, her gaze fixed only on Damon. He was still bent over Rose's body in disbelief, agony etched onto his face. "Damon," she whispered, and before she knew what she was doing, Elena had stumbled over to where he was kneeling. She heard Stefan call out her name, but she ignored him. She stared down at Rose, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm so sorry," Elena reached out a hand and touched Damon's shoulder, "If I hadn't—"

"Don't."

Elena fell silent at Damon's harsh tone, but she didn't remove her hand from his shoulder. Instead, she crawled closer and stroked Rose's hair out of her face. From the corner of her eye, she saw Damon look up at her. She met his gaze, and her heart lurched painfully. There was no other way to describe his expression besides..._broken._

She reached out and embraced him tightly, as the tears spilled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she murmured into his shoulder, "So sorry..."

He didn't hug her back, but he didn't pull away either.

"Oh, how touching," Klaus sneered, and Elena turned to look up at him in anger. "Oh, I'm sorry," Klaus said with mock sincerity when he caught sight of her expression, "Did I just kill someone you _cared _about?"

Damon snarled, and suddenly flew out of Elena's grasp. "Damon, don't!" Stefan shouted at his brother, growling as he finally overpowered Katherine and rushed towards them. He slammed both his hands against Damon's chest to push him backwards. "You can't win, Damon. Don't turn this into a bloodbath—"

"Damon."

He looked frantic, but he met Elena's gaze as she slowly stood up to look at him pleadingly. "Don't do this," she begged, "It's what he wants..."

"Actually, no," Klaus disagreed, appearing to lose interest in tormenting them further. He turned around to glare at Elijah, "I want my moonstone!"

"The warlock, Jonah, says his son is on his way with the moonstone," Elijah responded quickly, the phone still pressed to his ear. "They will be here shortly."

Elena froze, her eyes widening. _How had Luka's father found out about the moonstone? _No sooner had the thought _betrayal _entered her mind, than she heard the sound of a car approaching. She turned to see Alaric's SUV rolling up to the clearing. She stared in confusion as Jeremy and Alaric both got out of the car, followed by two others.

Luka and Bonnie.

"What—" Stefan began, but he broke off when Damon shook his head at him. Katherine shifted from the corner she had been standing in, watching the scene unfolding before her with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Ah, so you people finally decided to bring the moonstone to me _willingly_," Klaus said cheerfully. "I must say, that was an extremely good decision on your part."

"Of course," Luka said pleasantly, and he pulled the moonstone out of his pocket before tossing it to Elijah.

Elijah caught it nimbly, "What changed your mind, Bennett?"

"I didn't want anyone else I cared about to get hurt," Bonnie answered coldly, her arms crossed. As Klaus and Elijah both moved away to examine the moonstone, Bonnie swiftly sent Elena a significant look.

Everyone fell back as Luka and Bonnie stepped forward, holding hands. "_Macero natu maximus...__reddo lemma inops..." _As their chanting grew louder, Klaus and Elijah both whirled around, looking enraged.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Elijah bellowed at them, but neither of them even faltered. Elena looked around nervously as the wind picked up, blowing her hair wildly. The dirt around Klaus and Elijah began to spin in a small circle at their feet, and Klaus looked down at the ground in consternation.

"_MACERO NATU MAXIMUS!" _Bonnie cried out, her voice ringing in the otherwise silent clearing.

"_REDDO LEM—" _Luka began, but he suddenly began coughing violently. Elena gasped as Luka's hand slid out of Bonnie's hand and he fell onto the ground on all fours, coughing up blood.

"Wh-what's happening to him?" Jeremy shouted, but Bonnie could only shake her head. She continued to chant, keeping Klaus and Elijah at bay. Elena clenched her hands into fists, her heart pounding in fear. It was clear that Bonnie couldn't continue the spell on her own; she was already starting to shake, and blood began to seep out of her eyes, nose, and mouth.

"She can't," Damon grabbed Elena's arm painfully, "She can't go on."

"I know!" Elena said desperately, "I don't know what to do!" Against her will, she looked across the clearing to meet Katherine's gaze. _Self-preservation, Elena..._

"We need to run." Damon's expression held no trace of humor, only a sense of urgency. "Elena, we need to go before—"

"I hope I'm not too late," a voice said, and Elena looked up to see another figure suddenly appear in the clearing.

"D-dad," Luka coughed out in agony, blood now covering his hands, "Why are you doing this!"

"Jonah," Elijah greeted, his voice tinged with rage. "Perhaps you could put a stop to that pesky little witch?"

"Of course," Jonah agreed, and he put his right hand up, facing Bonnie. Elena's mouth opened in disbelief as Bonnie's voice cut out mid-chant.

She fell onto the ground, immediately unconscious.

"Bonnie!" Jeremy rushed to her side, looking pale as he hurriedly tried to find a pulse.

"I apologize for the delay," Jonah continued calmly, staring down at his son with distaste. "When Luka told me that Bonnie had voluntarily offered up the moonstone and that they were both coming here to give it to you...well, I was suspicious. I sent your spy to listen in on them, and I realized that they were planning something."

"You sent my spy to listen in on your own son?" Elijah tilted his head, a smile appearing at his lips. "How very backhanded of you."

Klaus frowned at Elijah, "I thought you compelled the boy to only listen to you?"

A confused expression appeared on Elijah's face. "Wait, how _did _you get him to do your bidding?"

Jonah shrugged, "I don't know. Ask him yourself." He gestured at a shadow in the woods, "Hey, you! Get out here!"

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," Damon hissed out incredulously in the sudden silence.

Elena could only stare in horror at the spy.

Matt.


	20. One Down

Damon whirled around and abruptly grabbed Luka by a fistful of his shirt and pulled him upwards angrily. "The spy all along was _Matt_? Is that why you never told us who it was?"

Luka didn't bother trying to fight Damon off. He met his gaze weakly, blood beginning to dry around his mouth. "I thought you might have figured it out…I sent you to the Grille, after all."

"Where Matt works," Jeremy realized, still cradling Bonnie in his arms. "Douche move, Luka. I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!"

"I didn't do anything wrong," Luka snapped when Damon gave him a slight shove that had him stumbling backwards. "I didn't know that my dad would—"

"Find out that you went behind my back?" Jonah supplied in a hard voice, "I'm disappointed in you, Luka. After everything we've been through, I thought you would understand why we have to do this…"

"Aren't you tired of doing everything _they _tell you to?" Luka burst out, pointing towards Elijah and Klaus with a wavering finger. "I was finally trying to do you—_our family_—a favor!

"Family," Klaus interjected in a faintly bored voice, "Funny how you people are all so concerned with protecting your family. Waste of time, if you ask me."

In that moment, Elena knew what it felt like to have pure, unadulterated _hatred _coursing through her veins. She was only confused for a second, before she turned to look at Katherine. _Of course_, Elena realized, _Katerina's family had been killed at the hands of Elijah; Katherine still cared...She still had a shred of humanity left in her, after all..._

"Katherine, don't—" Elena shouted, too late. Katherine vamped out and rushed at Klaus, her face set with unbridled fury.

It would have been an understatement to say that Klaus looked surprised. The fact that what Katherine had done was unexpected was her only advantage, and she sent Klaus flying backwards with a roar of rage. "You'll never know!" she screamed, "My family—they _died _because of you—"

Before she could get another blow in, Elijah shot forward to grab Katherine's arms and pull her back. She struggled furiously against his grasp, while everyone looked on in complete bewilderment. Stefan took half a step forward, glancing between Klaus and Katherine with a worried look on his face.

Klaus was on his feet almost immediately, his expression indiscernible. He carefully brushed off his suit with methodic fingers, ignoring Katherine's antics completely. When he looked up again, Elena let out an involuntary gasp. He hadn't vamped out; but the expression on his face surged of something beyond anger, beyond human emotion.

For the first time, Elena fully appreciated the fact that Klaus was insane.

"I'm hurt, my love," Klaus finally spoke, his eyes blazing. "_I _never ordered an attack on your family; that was all Elijah's doing...but it's all blood under the bridge, is it not?"

Katherine gave another shriek, this time directed at Elijah. He held her easily in his arms, looking faintly annoyed. "Shall we get started on this sacrifice, Klaus?

As Elena took a step backwards, she heard some rustling behind her. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, and saw both Stefan and Damon leaning towards Luka. She squinted, and saw that Luka's lips were moving quickly, whispering something that she certainly couldn't hear—but probably Damon and Stefan could.

"Yes, of course," Klaus agreed, looking up at the full moon. "Jonah, are you ready?"

Before Jonah could answer, Luka suddenly shouted, "NOW!"

Elena didn't even have time to react as twin blurs streaked by her, shoving her out of the way. She stumbled backwards into someone's arms, belatedly realizing that the blurs had been Stefan and Damon. They reached Elijah at the same time, throwing him off of Katherine.

Klaus begin to move towards them, but an unidentifiable voice from the woods cried out, "_INTERFICIO MEUS HOSTILIS!"_

There was a flash of blinding light which hit Klaus squarely in the chest, and he doubled over in pain, falling onto the ground. A figure blurred towards Elena, and she stammered out in shock, "Isobel?"

The hands holding onto Elena's shoulders dropped away, and Elena turned around to see that it had been Alaric who had caught her. However, he was now staring at Isobel with open-mouthed disbelief. "Y-you have powers now?"

"Oh no," Isobel grinned, gesturing behind her. "That was just a witch I met from my days at Duke."

And Lucy Bennett stepped into the clearing, her hands on her hips. Bonnie stood up shakily, with Jeremy holding onto her arm. "_Lucy_? How did you—?"

"_Mom_?" Luka interrupted, staring at Lucy incredulously.

Bonnie turned to look at Luka sharply, "I thought you said your mom died? Lucy is _my _cousin..."

Jonah stared at Lucy tightly, "You promised you would never come back."

"And I thought my family was screwed up," Jeremy muttered under his breath.

Lucy ignored Jonah's words, and reached into her pocket. After a moment, she tossed something to Elena, "For the doppelganger."

Elena caught it, her eyebrows rising when she recognized the object. "Wait a minute, is this the Gilbert device?"

"It's been altered with," Isobel interrupted, and nodded at Elijah—who was being held back by Damon, Stefan, and Katherine. "Why don't you try it out?"

Elena hesitated, her hand hovering over the device. Then she threw it at Katherine, who caught it deftly, looking confused. "It means more to you," Elena explained, stepping backwards to join Jeremy and Bonnie. "You deserve to avenge your family."

Katherine nodded slowly, staring at Elena. In that moment, the connection between them grew stronger than ever, and Elena shivered at the newfound energy. Katherine turned away and narrowed her eyes at Elijah, and her lips pursed prettily. With a swift movement, she turned the dial on the device. "_Better you die than I._"

Elijah screamed as his eyes rolled into his head.

And then his head exploded, showering everyone with blood.

Elena staggered backwards, blinking blood out of her eyes. In the background, she heard shouts and screaming as everyone realized what had happened. She grabbed onto Isobel's arms desperately, "Klaus! Where's Klaus?"

Lucy turned towards where Klaus had been lying on the ground, but he was gone.

* * *

***whew, that was an action-packed chapter! hmm wonder where Klaus went off to... ;) **


	21. The Uninvited

**A/N: **thank you for all the wonderful reviews everyone! and congrats to all of us for surviving the hiatus! what did everyone think of TVD? kinda sad, but some D/E progress at least ;)

* * *

"So to wrap things up, your ten page research papers are due THIS Friday." The bell rang signaling the end of class, and Alaric had to raise his voice to be heard. "No late assignments will be accepted!"

Elena quickly gathered her books and headed into the hallway towards her locker. She exchanged her history textbook for her calculus one, and shut her locker with a quiet snap. As she began walking down the hallway again, she felt someone fall into step with her. She looked to her right with some surprise, but quickly relaxed. "Hey Luka," she gave him a friendly smile, "How's it going?"

Luka matched her pace easily, his arms swinging by his sides. "Pretty good, all things considered…" His expression tightened for the briefest instant before he grinned once more, "At least I have my mom back."

"How's that going for you?" Elena lowered her voice, "Any sign of your dad since he disappeared with Klaus?"

Luka shook his head, "My mom keeps doing the same bloodline spell over and over, but we're not getting any hits…I think she still feels weird being back in our lives." Luka hesitated, "Is your mom still around?"

"Isobel?" Elena gave a short laugh, "No. My birth mother has a habit of disappearing whenever it suits her purpose."

Luka gave her a sideways glance, "She risked her life to come help us that night."

"I know," Elena admitted. She slowed down outside her calculus classroom, and Luka stopped with her. "I just wish that Klaus didn't have the moonstone _and _your father. It's like they're two steps ahead of us, and we'll never know what corner they're lurking around—"

"Don't you worry about that," Luka winked, "Me and my mom are cooking up a little protection spell for you. I'll let you know when we finalize it."

Elena's eyebrows shot upwards, "Wow, that's really nice of you, Luka."

"No problem," Luka waved to her as he began backing away, "You might want to warn your friend that I can't do a protection spell for vamps, though." Elena frowned in confusion, but Luka merely tilted his head to the right. Elena followed his gaze and understood when she saw Caroline and Tyler standing closely together against the lockers. Caroline caught her gaze and waved, but Elena only flashed her a look of warning before heading into class.

.

.

Tyler frowned after Elena's less-than-enthusiastic greeting. He turned back to face Caroline, whose smile had faltered. "What's up with Elena? Does she have a problem with me or something?"

"No," Caroline said quickly, "I think she's just kinda jealous, ya know? Since we've been spending so much time together, I've sort of been ignoring my other friends."

Tyler looked immediately apologetic, "Care, I didn't think—but you're right, you've been helping me so much through this and—"

"No," Caroline placed a hand on his arm and squeezed it gently, "Don't worry about it. I wanted to help. You needed someone, and I was...more than happy to be that person." Tyler gave her a smile, and suddenly gave her a quick hug. "Oh!" Caroline's eyes widened in surprise, but she hugged him back. "What was that for?"

"For being there for me," Tyler pulled back, his gaze searching her expression. "Without you...I don't know how I would've survived my first transformation."

"But you did," Caroline smiled at him, and linked their arms together as they began walking towards their next class. "It can't get any worse, right?"

"Yeah," He sounded distracted, "Hey, your mom hasn't heard anything about Mason, has she?"

"Um, no...I know they're still looking, though."

"It's the weirdest thing," Tyler muttered, "And now that other woman has disappeared, too."

"Who?"

"Remember Jules? My mom keeps calling her, but she's nowhere to be found."

"Oh, her..." Caroline shifted nervously, "I'm sure she'll turn up eventually."

.

.

"So, this is how Damon likes to run his crew?" Jules laughed, "Sending in two _kids _to watch over me?"

"I'm not in anyone's _crew_," Bonnie interrupted with distaste, "And certainly not _Damon_'s."

"And we're not kids!" Jeremy put in, annoyed. He held up a hand to show her his ring, "Bonnie is a witch, and _I _can't die. I'd say we're pretty above average."

"Fine," Jules smirked, "But you're still skipping school, aren't you? And you're still here on Damon's orders?"

"Make that _Stefan's _orders," Bonnie corrected in a steely tone, "And we're only here because we need to make sure that you'll keep your end of the bargain."

Jules heaved a mock sigh, "You know that I would _love _to get rid of a vampire or two, but I can't become a werewolf again till then next full moon."

"Which is in two weeks," Bonnie responded, crossing her arms. "Until then, we'll just be making sure that you don't do anything stupid like _skip town." _

"That's Damon's M.O, not mine," Jules corrected, grinning. "Tell me, where has he been anyway? And where's Stefan?"

Jeremy and Bonnie exchanged glances, but didn't answer.

.

.

Katherine sat primly across from Stefan on the sofa, watching as he grudgingly took a sip of water mixed with vervain. He coughed only for a second, but got over the effects quickly. Katherine tilted her head, pleased. "Well, well. I'm impressed, Stefan. Building up a tolerance to vervain, building up a tolerance to human blood...you may just make a true vampire, yet."

He gave her a dark look, "I'm so glad you approve."

"Hey, it's not _my _fault that Klaus escaped. Your brother didn't really think his little plan through, did he?"

"Shh," Stefan cautioned, raising his eyes pointedly to the ceiling. "Damon has been holed up in his room for the past two weeks, okay? Let's not give him a reason to completely lose his head."

Katherine rolled her eyes and muttered, "All for a girl..."

Stefan stood up abruptly, "Damon cared about Rose. Anything that gets him to show a little humanity is fine by my book."

"Oh really?" Katherine asked challengingly, "Then why haven't you let Elena near the boarding house for the past two weeks?"

He met her gaze blankly, "Because you're staying here?"

"No," Katherine shook her head, her curls bouncing around her shoulders. "You're not letting her near Damon because you still don't know the full story about what happened with her necklace."

"Damon is highly unstable right now," Stefan snapped, "I don't want Elena getting hurt!"

Katherine leaned backwards into the sofa cushions unconcernedly. "As if Damon would ever hurt Elena..."

.

.

Elena walked into her house after school, locking the door behind her. "Aunt Jenna?" she called, "I'm home!"

Jenna walked into the living room, looking flustered. "_Finally! _Where have you been?"

"Um, school?" Elena frowned as she dropped her backpack onto the sofa, "Why, what's wrong?"

"The sheriff found a bunch of dead bodies in the woods," Jenna whispered, "Looks like another slew of animal attacks."

"Oh..." Elena paused when she heard voices coming from the kitchen, "Is someone here?"

"Oh yeah, the sheriff is organizing a hunting party and I said she could use our house as a meeting place," Jenna shrugged, "It's the least I can do, seeing as how my hunting skills are pretty much zilch."

Elena nodded and walked into the kitchen to grab a snack. She smiled briefly at the people sitting at her kitchen table before snagging an apple from the counter. She had just turned to leave when she heard a voice that chilled her to the bone.

"Why, hello Elena."

She turned around slowly, her heart pounding in fear.

Sitting at her kitchen table was none other than Klaus himself.

* * *

***jenna really needs to stop inviting strangers into the house, doesn't she? =P **


	22. Being Human

Elena ran frantically, her feet pounding on the pavement. Trees, pedestrians, and cars flew by in the periphery of her vision, but she didn't notice any of it.

_He's been invited in_.

She kept running.

_Into my home. _

Adrenaline shot through her body and her legs numbed until she couldn't feel them anymore.

_Anytime he wants…_

Elena didn't bother looking behind to see if anyone was following her or not. She had only one goal in mind.

Get to the boarding house.

All of a sudden, a figure dressed in black appeared in front of her and Elena screamed, "NO, LET ME GO!"

"Elena? Hey, calm down!" The person shook her shoulders hard, and Elena's breath caught as she recognized the voice.

"D-damon?" she stammered in disbelief. She chanced a glance behind her, but didn't see anyone. "Wh-what're you doing?"

Damon gave her a confused look. "What am _I _doing? You're the one running through the streets like a mad woman—"

"Klaus!" Elena gasped out, "He's in my house! H-he's been invited in!"

Damon's expression darkened, and his gaze flicked up and down the street quickly. He grasped her shoulders again, "Okay, Elena, hey…" He gave her a small shake, "Look at me." He knelt slightly so he could look into her eyes and said firmly, "It's going to be okay, alright? I need you to calm down—"

Elena fell silent, and she took a deep breath. Now that Damon was here, she immediately felt safer.

Suddenly, she frowned.

She examined Damon from head to toe, and arrived at the conclusion that he looked quite sober.

Sure, his hair was slightly tousled and his eyes held a certain shadow…but he didn't seem particularly _unstable_…

"Elena?" Damon raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

"You're okay," she said slowly, "Stefan made it seem like you were…"

"What?" Damon gave a short, bitter laugh. "Like I was going off the deep end?"

"Well, yeah…" Elena admitted, narrowing her eyes at him. "Stefan said you hadn't left your room since…" She trailed off before quickly amending, "I mean, for two weeks."

Damon looked away, a quick flash of pain appearing on his face. He shoved his hands in his pockets, seeming to tense up. "Maybe so. That doesn't mean I was drinking myself into oblivion…I don't know where Stefan gets these wild ideas of his." He tried to smile at her, but it came out as more of a grimace.

Elena saw through this façade instantly, and her expression softened. "I…wanted to visit. But…"

"Let me guess…little bro said it wasn't safe?"

"Something like that."

"Well, he's right," Damon said abruptly. "I'm not good for you…not _safe_. Not like Stefan."

Elena bit back the retort she longed to utter, and instead shook her head at him. "I haven't forgotten the memory that Elijah showed me," she reminded him, her tone becoming hard. "When this is all over—"

"You'll jump down my throat for compelling you?" Damon smirked at her, but it was a mere imitation of his usual sarcastic bite.

"No." Elena bit her lip, worry creasing her forehead. "What are we going to do about Klaus? Do you think he'll hurt Jenna? Jeremy?"

"No," Damon said, his tone firm. "If Klaus wanted to hurt you through your family, then he wouldn't have wasted time wrangling an invite into your home. He could've had anyone, anytime go after Jenna and Jeremy…" Damon scowled, "Klaus is only after you."

"What are we going to do?" Elena asked desperately, "The full moon isn't for another two weeks, so Jules can't even turn until then!"

"So you're telling me that all our lives lie in the hands of those incompetent little witches?"

"Without them, we would all probably be dead," Elena snapped, annoyed. "Bonnie, Luka, and Lucy have been nothing but helpful, for your information. In fact, Luka even said that he and his mom were working on a protection spell for me."

"Oh, did he now?" Damon shot back, his voice dripping with disdain. "Well, we'll see how that works out, won't we?" He grabbed her hand and began leading her down the sidewalk, "Come on. Let's get out of the open."

Elena let Damon drag her along, again feeling that odd feeling of safety washing over her. "You're wrong, you know."

"About what?"

"About me not being safe with you," Elena said carefully, "It's not true. You've always protected me."

Damon growled, his calm persona disappearing suddenly. "Not from _me_, Elena!" He gave her arm a sharp tug subconsciously, "I couldn't protect you from _ME!" _

"What?" Elena stared after him in shock as he abruptly released her hand and began quickly walking ahead of her. She hurried to keep up, confusion etched across her face. "What are you talking about?"

"You were never supposed to find out about the compulsion," Damon muttered, "I never wanted you to find out..."

They had reached the boarding house by this time, and they both paused outside the door. "Why?" Elena asked softly, but Damon didn't respond. She stepped closer, taking his hand within hers. "You were scared."

He still didn't say anything.

"Scared of showing your humanity? Scared that, after all these years, there was no _switch _to just turn those feelings off?" Elena reached up with her other hand to touch his cheek, startled by how bright his eyes were. She swallowed, "You said...you said that you didn't deserve me."

He lifted his head to meet her gaze then and said roughly, "I don't."

Elena closed her eyes, letting his scent and warmth flow through her body. She shook her head, her hair flying around her shoulders. "You're wrong," she murmured. "What you did...it wasn't _selfish_, Damon. It was probably the most unselfish thing that anyone, human or not, has ever done for me."

His expression didn't change, but she saw the incredulity flicker in his eyes.

She stepped closer, and she saw his gaze drift to her lips before he looked towards the house. "Elena..."

"Maybe," She whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Maybe it's time for me to be...selfish." She leaned in closer, and felt Damon's hands slide down her back until they rested gently at her waist. Elena gave him a small smile, and was relieved when his lips curved upwards slightly.

And then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

* * *

***i thought a little Delena goodness was in order before Klaus tried to kill them again ;) **


	23. Moonlight

**A/N: remember that elena and stefan are NOT a couple in this fic (they broke up before the events of chapter 1, and they never got back together—not like they did on the show lol). so to reiterate, elena wasn't cheating when she kissed Damon :) **

* * *

Chapter 23: Moonlight

"Oh, look! Doomed lovers, how _sweet_."

Elena and Damon broke apart and looked towards the doorway of the boarding house. Katherine was standing there, her hands on her hips. She didn't look displeased, but there was a certain cattiness in her voice that Elena didn't miss.

She caught her breath, her cheeks still flushed. Damn, kissing Damon was _exhilarating_…

Which reminded her of why she was here in the first place.

"Elena?" Stefan appeared behind Katherine's shoulder, looking confused. His gaze flicked from Damon to Elena before he addressed her again, "What are you doing here?"

"Klaus—he's been invited into my house," Elena stammered, struggling to collect her thoughts. "What are we going to do?"

Stefan groaned, running a hand through his hair. "I knew he would be back...I just didn't think he'd show up this soon."

"Well, lucky for you, your little witch friends are here," Katherine said, pointing into the house. "Come on in."

"For future reference, I'd appreciate not being invited into my own home," Damon shoved past Katherine, who only smirked in response.

"Elena, you're here," Bonnie stood up from where she had been seated in the living room. Luka was there as well, and he nodded to her. "We overheard you guys talking...Klaus is in your house?"

"What are you two doing here?" Damon demanded, looking at Luka suspiciously. "Did your dad breeze into town with Klaus? Did he make contact with you?"

"No," Luka said firmly, "I haven't seen my dad. I wouldn't be surprised if he was back in Mystic Falls, though."

"Damon, quit with the cold shoulder," Bonnie snapped, "You're not the only one here who cares for Elena. And Luka has done nothing wrong—"

"_Yet_," Damon emphasized, not seeming bothered by Bonnie's accusatory tone. "I trust him just about as far as Stefan can throw him, which isn't very far, so..."

"I dropped by to tell you guys that my mom and I finished the protection spell for Elena," Luka interrupted.

Stefan crossed his arms, his brow furrowed. "So...you made her a ring or something? Like what Jeremy and Alaric have?"

"No, nothing that complex," Luka shook his head, "Those rings take some serious power. No, what we did was sort of...mask her humanity."

"Excuse me?" Elena stood up, not liking the sound of that. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"You can't be tracked," Bonnie offered, "Your scent, your heartbeat...everything about you that screams _human_ is sort of under a veil. So unless a vampire already knows where you are..."

"They can't find her," Damon finished, his eyebrows raised in what could only be described as begrudging admiration. "I'm impressed, warlock. She's essentially invisible to the enhanced vampire senses...well done."

"Oh wow, praise from the great Damon Salvatore," Bonnie said sarcastically, "Consider yourself lucky, Luka. The rest of us can only _dream _about getting his approval—"

"Very funny," Damon narrowed his eyes at her, but Bonnie only smiled back innocently.

Elena nodded slowly, "That's...awesome, Luka. Thank you."

"No problem. Anything to keep my end of the bargain." Luka turned to Bonnie, "And maybe you should tell them the other reason we're here."

"Okay," Bonnie took a deep breath, "Even if Klaus hadn't shown up today...I was thinking that there's no point in just _waiting _for him to come to us. That always leaves us at a disadvantage, right?"

"Right," Stefan agreed, "What did you have in mind?"

"The Gilbert device that Katherine used on Elijah...Lucy said it won't work on Klaus because it was sort of a one-time use thing. Plus, it wouldn't have been powerful enough for a vampire as old as Klaus anyway."

"Hence the reason you're supposed to be guarding Jules," Damon said impatiently, "What did you do? Leave her with Jeremy?"

"And Caroline," Bonnie said defensively.

To Elena's surprise, Damon seemed to accept this answer and he merely folded his arms and waited for Bonnie to continue.

"A werewolf bite is our only option at this point," Bonnie started, but then she hesitated and looked over at Luka. "But, from what Jules has told us, a bite wouldn't kill Klaus instantly..."

"What are you saying?" Elena frowned, "There's no way to kill Klaus immediately?"

"We would have to speed up the process of the bite," Luka explained, "But that isn't really a problem. The issue we wanted to talk to you about is...how would you guys feel about us _inducing _a full moon?"

"_What_?" Damon began shaking his head, "No, you can't mess with the forces of nature like that."

"I'm with Damon on this one," Stefan said seriously, "You can't just...bend the will of the moon for your own personal gain. You can't predict the consequences!"

"Wait a second," Katherine inserted, "Wouldn't you be forcing werewolves all over the world to turn two weeks early?"

"We'll restrict the spell to Mystic Falls," Bonnie said quickly, "And we'll warn Jules and Tyler. What do you guys think?"

"Do it." Everyone turned to gape at Elena in surprise, but she only shrugged. "I want Klaus out of my life. The sooner the better. Once he's dead, we can get the moonstone and actually destroy it. Now that there's three witches working together, I'm sure we can think of something."

Damon stared at Elena thoughtfully before he turned to look at Bonnie, "And you're sure that the three of you can handle something as big as inducing a full moon?"

"Make that _four_."

Elena gasped and whirled around to see Jonah standing behind them.

"You!" Damon snarled and rushed at him, but almost immediately fell to the ground in pain.

"Stop!" Elena shouted as she hurried over to Damon, raising her hand in Jonah's direction. "Don't hurt him!"

"What are you doing here, Dad?" Luka demanded angrily, crossing his arms. "You're not welcome here any longer. Go back to _Klaus_."

"I am your father and you will not speak to me that way," Jonah said calmly, easing the pressure off of Damon. "And I'm here to help you."

"Oh right," Katherine scoffed, keeping her eyes trained on Jonah as she inched along the walls, "We're supposed to believe that? Did Klaus send you here?"

"No, no one knows I'm here," Jonah said gravely, "As soon as I left, I realized that I had made a mistake. Everything I've done all my life is for my family...and I shouldn't have left when they needed me most."

"Too little, too late," Luka snapped, "How are we supposed to trust you?"

"I overheard your plan about the full moon," Jonah said carefully, "How about I prove to you that I'm on your side?" When no one answered, he reached down and slid a large ring off his finger. "My talisman," he explained as he handed it over to Luka. "You can use my powers for your spell."

Luka frowned, but accepted the ring. He turned it over in his hands, looking contemplative. "Does this mean that you're not staying?"

"I have to get back to Klaus before he realizes I'm missing," Jonah said regretfully. He walked over to the door, and turned back to look at them. "When are you going to do the spell?"

Bonnie exchanged a glance with Luka before answering, "Tonight."

Something flashed in Jonah's eyes, but all he said was, "Good luck."


	24. Doppelganger

**A/N: **thanks for all the reviews everyone! get ready for an action packed chapter ;) ENJOY.

* * *

Elena sat in the corner of the sofa stiffly, her hands folded in her lap. She watched all the activity going around her and scowled when no one even looked over in her direction.

Bonnie, Luka, and Lucy were sitting in a circle in front of the fireplace. Strewn around them were various spellbooks, amulets, and scribbles of paper with half-written spells.

On the opposite side of the room, Damon and Stefan had tacked a huge map of Virginia and its surrounding states to the wall. The two Salvatore brothers stood in front of the map, placing red thumbtacks in areas where they thought they could hide Elena until this was all over.

There was a large red circle around Mystic Falls on the map, with a huge line across it to indicate '_not here.' _

In another corner of the room, Jeremy, Alaric, and Jules were sitting opposite each other at a table piled high with books, each of them quickly perusing ones that they thought would be useful in finding any other information about their situation.

"Is anyone even going to ask my opinion about all this?" Elena muttered, annoyed. From the corner of her eye, she saw Damon flick a glance in her direction. However, when she looked up, he was still turned away from her.

Elena had just decided that this was absolutely ridiculous and that she wasn't going to stand for it—when the front door of the Salvatore mansion flew open with an almighty _bang!_ Everyone froze, their bodies turned in the direction of the door.

A second later, a body came flying through the hall, and landed with a _thump _at Damon's feet.

"My god, Caroline!" Bonnie and Elena both leapt up when they recognized the blonde vampire. Caroline's normally immaculate look was torn to shreds: tears stained her cheeks, her mascara was running, her hair ran wild with straggly ends.

Stefan was instantly at Caroline's side, shock written all over his face. He carefully lifted her into a sitting position, and cradled her body in his arms. "Hey, hey it's going to be okay," he said in a soothing voice, sounding quite calm. Elena was surprised until she looked into Stefan's eyes and saw the fury there.

"Care, what happened—" Bonnie's question was cut off when Caroline choked out a name through sobs.

"T-tyler."

"I'll kill him," Damon said immediately, and took a step towards the hallway. Elena had just reached out a hand to stop him when he gave a sudden roar of pain, clutching his shoulder.

And Tyler walked into the room, a crossbow in his hand. His eyes glinted with malice as he looked around the room, his gaze finally landing on Jules. "You're working with them?" he snarled, turning the crossbow to point at her, instead. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY ALL ARE?"

"Tyler, just calm down," Jules said warningly as she stood up, her hands in front of her in a surrendering gesture. "Why don't you tell us what's wrong?"

He moved the crossbow wildly across the room, finally pointing it at Caroline. He fumbled in his jeans pocket before pulling out what looked like a flash-drive. He tossed it onto the coffee table in front of Elena, barely sparing her a glance. "My mom told me to clean out the guest room today, where Mason stayed when he was here," he spat out, "You know, when he was _alive_."

Alaric winced, and everyone one else exchanged glances before staring at the ground guiltily. Everyone, that is, except Damon.

"Found out about dear Uncle Mason's untimely demise, have you?" Damon said snarkily, "What's on that flash drive?"

"_Everything_," Tyler growled, "About how he came back to Mystic Falls because of some chick named Katherine, and that stupid moonstone, and how this place is _crawling _with vampires!" The last part of the sentence was aimed at Caroline, and his voice wavered out of control, "YOU LIED TO ME!"

"I'm sorry!" Caroline wailed, and Stefan tightened his arms around her.

"Don't apologize to him," Damon snapped at her before turning his attention back to Tyler. "Listen you little _punk_, don't take this out on Caroline..." Damon stepped closer, his eyes flashing dangerously. "She was just following _my _orders. So if you've got a problem, you take it up with me. _Got it_?"

"Tyler, put that thing down and we can all talk about this," Jules said persuasively as she began walking slowly towards him. "We don't want anyone to get hurt..."

"Did you know?" Tyler shouted, "Did you know Mason was dead?"

"Yes."

"You knew?" Caroline asked, frowning up at Jules in confusion. "But you filed a missing persons report with my mom!"

"I did what I had to in order to keep up appearances," Jules answered, keeping her eyes trained on Tyler.

Damon looked even more confused than Caroline. "Wait a second, you _knew _that your boyfriend was dead and yet you're still in Mystic Falls? _Why_?"

"Mason wasn't my boyfriend," Jules said steadily, "He was a dear friend, and I came here to find out who killed him."

Damon opened his mouth to say something, but Elena quickly cut him off. "And have you?" she asked Jules, keeping her voice neutral. "Did you find out who killed Mason?"

"Well, no," Jules crossed her arms. "But I know Mason came here for the moonstone, and I know that has something to do with those two Originals Elijah and Klaus."

"So, you think one of them killed Mason?" Damon asked carefully, his face void of any expression.

"Originals?" Tyler waved the crossbow threateningly, "Who are they? Where can I find them?"

"Elijah is dead," Bonnie said in a strong voice, her hands on her hips as she glared at Tyler. "We all killed him."

"And we're _trying _to formulate a plan to kill Klaus," Lucy added, staring at Tyler coldly. "So I guess that solves all your problems, doesn't it?"

Tyler blinked, a range of emotions flitting across his face. He looked down at Caroline, who was still sitting on the carpet, then he looked back up at Jules. "What about the moonstone? What is it? Forget that—_where _is it?"

"Klaus has it," Elena snapped, "Any more questions?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Tyler said in a hard voice, "What do _you _even have to do with any of this?"

"She's the doppelganger," a voice answered from the staircase.

Tyler looked up and openly gaped as Katherine made her way down the stairs, a smirk playing at her lips. "Oh great," Damon muttered, "Always one to add fuel to the fire, aren't you?"

"B-but..." Tyler turned back to look at Elena, looking utterly bewildered.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself," Katherine grinned as she neared Tyler. She tilted her head, approval in her eyes. "Hmm, all you werewolves are so _hot_," she licked her lips, and then winked at Tyler. "I should know...I knew Mason _quite _well, after all."

Tyler straightened, his expression dawning with understanding. "Katherine?"

"Ooh, smart too," Katherine smiled at him seductively, and ran a finger down his chest before murmuring, "_What a catch..." _

_"_Katherine!" Damon barked, and she pouted before stepping away.

"_What_?" she sighed dramatically, "Can't a girl have a little fun around here?"

"Okay, that's it!" Tyler slammed the crossbow down on the table in anger. "Is anyone going to tell me WHAT THE HELL is going on here?"

"It's a long story," Jeremy muttered, but Tyler's expression didn't change.

"Then someone better start talking."

"I'll—" Elena began, but she was interrupted when someone rang the doorbell.

Damon looked around the room, as though wondering who else could possibly be stopping by. "Party in the Salvatore house tonight," he said sarcastically as he stomped out of the room, "Be sure to invite all your friends..."

"I better make sure he doesn't kill some poor delivery boy," Bonnie said as she quickly followed Damon out of the room.

"Right..." Elena said half heartedly as she met Tyler's expectant gaze. "Well, this all began when—"

Bonnie screamed.

"What the—?" Jeremy leapt to his feet and sprinted towards the door, with everyone else on his heels. "Bonnie, what's wrong?" Jeremy asked when he saw her standing in the hallway, looking horrorstruck.

"Elena, don't..." Damon tried to block her view of the dead body sprawled on the threshold, but it was too late.

* * *

***ohh major cliffhanger ;) hmm so who do you guys think it is? **


	25. Retribution

Caroline was sitting cross-legged on Damon's bed. She stared unseeingly at the wall in front of her, her mind still struggling to process what had happened.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Stefan walked in carrying a small bag in his arms. "Hey," he said gently, placing the bag on the bed. "I made a quick trip to your house and brought you some clothes since…" he trailed off, gesturing unnecessarily at the pile of torn clothes in the corner of the room.

Caroline pulled the white terrycloth bathrobe more tightly around her, but only nodded blankly in response. After a moment, she realized he was still standing there and staring at her. She quickly cleared her throat, "Thanks. I'll be down soon."

Instead of leaving, Stefan silently sat down next to her on the bed. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," she bit out, her voice turning cold with suppressed rage. "You don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"I know," Stefan agreed, and he reached out to place his hand over hers. "I just don't want you to blame yourself for what happened."

Caroline turned to look at him incredulously. "_Of course _it's my fault! I broke up with Matt because I thought I was protecting him! And now—" She broke off with a sob and pulled away from Stefan, her shoulders shaking. "And now he's dead!"

To her immense surprise, Stefan pulled her into his arms tightly. "It's not your fault that Matt got mixed up in any of this," he told her firmly. He raised her chin so he could see her expression. "Please don't blame yourself, Caroline…"

Tears continued to slide down her cheeks, but her voice was strong when she held out her hand. "Let me see the note again."

Stefan looked pained, "Don't do this to yourself."

"I _said, _give me the note!"

He sighed and reluctantly reached into his pocket to pull out the note that had come with Matt's dead body. She snatched it out of his hand and re-read it for the tenth time.

_Kill one of mine, and I'll kill one of yours._

_-Klaus_

"We should've thought about the consequences of killing Elijah," Stefan muttered, looking away from her. "We should have realized he would go after Matt...after all, he was Elijah's spy. Klaus knew he was close to you, to Elena. I'm sorry..."

Caroline shook her head, her wet hair flying around her shoulders. "It's no one's fault except my own. Damon was right. I shouldn't have been so focused on helping Tyler...maybe I would've realized what was happening with Matt—"

"You have a big heart, Caroline. You would've never forgiven yourself if you weren't there for Tyler when he needed it."

"Yeah, right," Caroline responded bitterly, her hand clenching around the note. "You saw what Tyler did to me...he doesn't care about anyone but himself!"

At that moment, there was a knock at the door and Tyler stuck his head in. He looked supremely uncomfortable. And guilty. "Jules and Jeremy just finished explaining...everything that's been going on. The moonstone, and the curse, and the doppelganger stuff."

"That's great, Tyler," Caroline snapped, "Maybe now you'll stop jumping down everyone's throats for trying to keep _you _safe!"

Stefan quickly stood up to leave the room, "How about I let you two talk?" However, as he strode past Tyler, he muttered in a low voice, "Just remember, everyone in this house is Caroline's friend. You do _anything _to hurt her, and you'll regret it."

.

.

"All set," Damon announced, throwing the shovel into Alaric's car and climbing into the passenger seat. "Matt's body should be buried well enough so no one will find him till this is all over."

Alaric glanced at him skeptically, "You mean you're going to un-bury him once Klaus is dead?"

"He's not a Vikki Donovan," Damon pointed out, "No one will believe he died of a drug overdose. There'll be an investigation. It has to look like an animal attack, because right now..."

"It looks like he died of nothing," Alaric finished, a frown on his face as he drove slowly out of the woods. "You think that warlock Jonah did something?"

Damon drummed his fingers against the opening of the window. "I see no other explanation." He peered into the sky, where the sun was just beginning to set. "If Jonah double crossed us, I'm going to have _so _much fun killing him."

"_Damon_," Alaric began warningly, "I doubt you could take him down. Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed."

"You sound like Elena."

"I sound like someone who cares," Alaric corrected, and Damon rolled his eyes but didn't argue.

.

.

"And...I think that should do it," Lucy smoothed out the paper with the final spell on it. She looked out the window at the setting sun, "Just in time, too. You guys ready?"

Bonnie took a deep breath, "As ready as I'll ever be." She glanced over at the sofa where Elena, Jeremy, and Jules were sitting. "Where's everyone else?"

"Damon and Alaric just texted and said they're on their way back from the woods," Elena said expressionlessly. "Tyler and Caroline went over to the old Lockwood property to make sure he's chained up for the night. And Stefan and Katherine went over to my house to watch over what Klaus is up to and make sure he doesn't hurt Jenna."

"Okay," Luka placed his dad's ring on his own finger, "I guess it's now or never." He gestured to the rest of them, "Stand in a circle around us, but on the _outside _of the candles." As everyone moved, Bonnie reached out to sprinkle salt around the area of Mystic Falls on the map in front of her. This would ensure the spell only happened in their area, thereby only affecting Tyler and Jules.

Bonnie, Luka, and Lucy linked hands. They began chanting in unison, "_E__x vicis, addo plenus luna. Sal salis est vestri ora..."_

_._

_._

Katherine dangled her legs out of the tree, and sighed as she glanced over at Stefan. "Don't you ever get tired of sitting here and spying on Elena's house?"

"No one forced you to come," Stefan murmured, focused only on hearing what was going on inside. The "hunting party" seemed just about ready to head out, seeing as how the sun had nearly set. He only hoped that they wouldn't get in their way tonight when Jules went after Klaus.

"I want Klaus dead as much as you guys do," Katherine snapped back.

"I know," Stefan said distractedly, "I just don't know what your real motive for sticking around is." Katherine didn't respond to this, and Stefan turned his attention back to the conversation going on inside the house.

"Well, I'm glad I could help somehow," Jenna said with a laugh, "I would be just about useless with a gun. I remember my dad tried to teach me once...never again."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, Jenna," Klaus answered good-naturedly , "You've done more than your fair share by allowing us to all meet in your lovely home."

"Allright, let's get this show on the road," Sheriff Forbes called out, "It's nearly nightfall."

As a large group of people began filing out of the house, Stefan and Katherine shrank further into the shadows of the tree. Klaus and Jonah brought up the rear of the group, with Klaus turning to smile at Jenna once more. He reached out and charmingly kissed the back of her hand, "Thank you again for inviting me into your home."

"Not at all," Jenna grinned back, "I'm always happy to help." She shut the door, and the friendly expression on Klaus' face instantly melted away. His eyes darted around the area as he began walking to his car. Jonah followed close behind when suddenly he gasped out in surprise.

Klaus whirled around, frowning at Jonah. "What is it?"

Jonah's hand clutched his heart as he suddenly fell to his knees. "I...I don't know," he choked out. Klaus narrowed his eyes.

All of a sudden, darkness fell completely.

And a full moon shone in the sky.

* * *

***i hope you guys don't mind that this chapter took a break from the plot and focused a bit more on character development, which i think is also pretty important to any story :) p.s. i REALLY wanted this chapter to be about Delena, but i swear this chapter wrote itself! haha i'm sure you all know what i mean...ANYWAY next chapter we'll see how "THE PLAN" goes. what do you guys think will happen?**


	26. Game On

"Just keep your eyes closed," Bonnie instructed and raised her hand over Caroline's face. "Stop fidgeting!"

"I can't help it," Caroline complained, tugging on her curls in an endearing gesture that Bonnie remembered from when they were kids. "I get nervous when my eyes are closed…like someone's gonna attack me and I won't see it coming."

"Hey," Bonnie said softly, grasping Caroline's shoulders firmly. "It's just me, okay? You're safe."

There was an earsplitting howl from inside the cave that Tyler was chained in.

"You're safe out here," Bonnie amended quickly, and was relieved when Caroline gave her a small smile in return. "It's a simple spell, Care. I just want you to be able to see what's going on with Klaus while you're here. That way, you'll be warned if there's any danger coming your way."

Caroline took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Okay I'm ready. Do your stuff."

Bonnie smiled to herself and swept her hand down Caroline's face, murmuring the spell under her breath. A faint light emitted from her palm and lingered on Caroline's eyes before disappearing.

"All set," she announced.

Caroline opened her eyes, and blinked several times. "I don't feel any different."

Bonnie grinned and reached into her pocket to produce a necklace. She reached around Caroline to clasp it around her neck. "When you want to know what's happening in the woods, just touch the pendant on this necklace and think of me. You'll be able to get a vision of what's going on." Bonnie stepped back and eyed the gated door to the caves, "It should keep you occupied while you're keeping watch over Tyler tonight."

Caroline fingered the pendant and smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Bonnie."

"No problem. I already did the same spell for Alaric and Jeremy, so they'll know when to bring out Jules from the basement."

"Jeremy, huh?" Caroline drew the name out teasingly, "What's going on with you two, anyway?"

At that moment, the car behind them honked and Damon shouted out the window impatiently, "Can we save the girl talk for another time, Blondie? Me and the witch got places to be—"

"I'm coming!" Bonnie snapped back, waving to Caroline as she stomped back into the car.

"Sorry to interrupt," Damon said, not sounding apologetic at all. "But we need to isolate Klaus from the hunting party, or this whole thing is gonna end up being a bloodbath."

"As if you wouldn't enjoy that," Bonnie muttered under her breath, ignoring the glare that Damon threw in her direction. "Don't worry about it. I can do a spell to distract the others while Jules goes after Klaus. And we also have a barrier spell around a small perimeter in the forest, so we'll know when Klaus crosses over."

Damon nodded as he drove back to the clearing where the others were waiting for them. "Where are you witches planning on hiding?"

Bonnie frowned, trying to think of a logical place. "We would have to be close by," she reasoned, "Close enough to intervene after Jules bites Klaus so that we can speed up the progress of the bite..."

The car pulled into the clearing, and they both got out. "How about in that tree?" Damon suggested, pointing at the thick branches above them. "You would be completely hidden behind those leaves...and can you do a protection spell on yourselves?"

"Didn't realize you cared so much, Damon," Lucy remarked, narrowing her eyes.

He frowned, "Why is that witches always think the worst of me?"

"It must be your _aura_," Lucy retorted, but there was a glimmer of amusement in her voice. "To answer your question, yes we can do the protection spell on ourselves. We'll need a way of getting into that tree, though."

"Stefan and I are at your service," Damon mock-bowed, before winking at Bonnie. Before she had time to react, he swept her into his arms and leapt high.

They were instantly standing at one of the branches at the top of the tree.

Bonnie's eyes widened as she looked down. "Oh," she said uncertainly, "We're up so high."

Damon waggled his eyebrows, "Scared of heights?"

"No!" She snapped back, giving him a hard shove. Damon didn't even lose his balance, and only laughed in amusement before leaping back to the ground lightly.

"I'll take you up," Stefan offered to Luka, "Just hold on tight." Luka complied and they both shot into the air immediately.

"Your turn," Damon held out a hand to Lucy, who looked at him warily. "Oh _come on_, I don't bite," he said persuasively, before pausing. "Not unless you ask me to." Lucy shot him another look, but reluctantly let Damon carry her up.

Several minutes later, Bonnie, Lucy, and Luka were all settled and hidden well in the tree. "Okay," Damon ordered, pointing at Stefan and Katherine. "You two know where to hide. Go."

Stefan nodded, glancing back briefly at Elena. "You'll keep her safe," he murmured to Damon, who nodded his assent. Katherine also paused to look back at Elena, but she didn't say anything.

She and Stefan disappeared into the night.

"Come on," Damon gestured to Elena as he began walking through the forest, scanning the trees. "We need to find a good place to hide."

"You'll...be with me, then?" Elena asked hesitantly, and Damon turned to face her with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," he said firmly, "So you can forget any master plans you have which involve sacrificing yourself to Klaus, or whatever else you have up your sleeve."

"I wasn't planning anything."

"Sure you weren't."

Elena rolled her eyes, but allowed Damon to drag her by the wrist further into the woods. "How will Alaric and Jeremy know when to release Jules?"

"Bonnie did that vision-spell on them," Damon said distractedly, staring up at a giant oak. "What do you think about this one?"

"It's really tall—" Elena yelped as Damon suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and flew upwards. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck tightly. Before she knew it, they were standing near the top, the wind blowing through her hair. "Wow," Elena breathed, unwrapping her legs so that she could stand, but not releasing her hold on Damon. "This is amazing," she turned to look at him, sucking in a startled breath when she found his face inches from hers.

Damon tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "Elena, I want you to know that—"  
"If I die," Elena began at the same time, and they both stopped incredulously.

"Oh no," Damon snapped, "_You're _not going to die! I won't let that happen..._none _of us will!"

Elena gritted her teeth in anger, "Well I'm not going to let you die either, so you can forget about whatever huge heroic act you have planned—"

"_Elena_..."  
"Damon."

They stood face to face, arms crossed in determination, and legs splayed with defiance. Tension made their expressions rigid, fury sparking in their gazes. "How about we both promise not to get ourselves killed?" Elena hissed out through clenched teeth after five minutes of stubborn silence.

"_Fine."  
"_Fine."

With that, they both settled themselves into a comfortable position on the branch and peered out through the leaves. "Look," Damon whispered after several minutes, pointing to something Elena couldn't see.

"What is it?"

"Lights."

"The hunting party?"

Damon tilted his head, listening to faint shouts in the distance. "I think Bonnie sent in some flickering lights to distract the hunters so they'll split up...hopefully it gets Klaus on his own."

They sat still, listening to the sounds of footsteps growing closer. Elena's phone vibrated in her pocket, and she showed Damon the text message:

**_Klaus just broke through the barrier. He's close._**

**_-Bonnie_**

Damon nodded, and drew his legs up to the branch so he was crouched in an attacking position. "_Game on_."

* * *

***we're in for an exciting few chapters! reviews please :) **


	27. The Last Stand

**A/N: I hope this chapter is as epic as you guys hoped it would be ;) p.s. i believe there's about three chapters left after this one. **

* * *

It was excruciating waiting to see what would happen next.

Damon was sitting at the edge of the tree branch, his shoulders stiff with tension. Elena sat at his side, equally tense and silent.

Suddenly, Damon sat up straighter, shifting slightly. Elena met his gaze, and she saw the anticipation glint in his eye. She clenched one hand underneath her, feeling a swift and strong sense of nervousness sweep through her body. As if he knew what she was feeling, Damon reached out and took her other hand within his own and squeezed it lightly.

He didn't let go.

After what seemed like ages, but was probably less than five minutes, they both heard footsteps approaching.

"I'll check over here," Sheriff Forbes called out loudly, "There's multiple footsteps on the ground here. I'll see if it leads to any animal tracks—"

"You've got to be kidding me," Damon muttered under his breath, "Come on, Bonnie, distract them..."

"Hey! There's that weird light again!" another voice shouted, and the sounds of running footsteps followed.

"Don't go alone!" the sheriff yelled back in exasperation. The footsteps began to retreat when suddenly she gave a gasp of surprise. "Klaus, I didn't see you there! Did you see those strange lights?"

"I did," Klaus said, sounding interested. "Should I follow them?"

"No, I'll go," Sheriff Forbes said hurriedly, "Can you check over here? There's a lot of unusual footprints…"

"Sure thing," Klaus agreed, his voice sounding closer. "Be careful out there, Liz."

"You too," the sheriff said seriously as she switched directions to follow the lights that Bonnie had sent out.

Elena swallowed as Klaus' footsteps neared, growing closer and closer every second. Damon was leaning dangerously on the tree branch in order to see what was going on, and Elena instinctively tried to pull him back into a safer position. As he tried to shrug her off, the leaves on the tree rustled.

They both froze.

As did Klaus.

He looked around, predator instincts kicking. "Who's out there?" Klaus called, turning swiftly on the spot, "Katherine?"

Elena's eyes widened, but thankfully the protection spell Luka had cast on her to mask her humanity seemed to be working, and Klaus didn't even look in their direction. He took another step forward, his eyes darting quickly over the clearing. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." he called out in a sing-song voice, and Elena and Damon exchanged glances.

Someone screamed.

Klaus whipped his head around in the direction of the sound, which was soon followed by what sounded like a stampede. "Shoot it!" someone shouted, and gunshots fired wildly into the night.

Elena's teeth began chattering with fear, and Damon swiftly shifted his position so that he could draw her into his arms. "Shh," he whispered into her hair so that only she could hear, "I'm here. It'll be alright."

An earsplitting howl resounded across the forest, and Klaus froze. He looked up, taking in the sight of the full moon shining above him.

And Elena could the exact expression on his face the moment he put two-and-two together. Fury washed over his face, and he vamped out. "WHERE'S THE DOPPELGANGER?"

Before she even had time to react, there was a loud growl from below them. She and Damon both peered downwards and saw the werewolf standing directly in front of Klaus, sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight.

Klaus took a step backwards, and within the blink of an eye, Jules attacked. Klaus blurred around her at lightening speed, but the werewolf followed easily, jaws snapping loudly. Klaus snarled, his arm shooting out and catching the werewolf across its stomach. Jules went flying backwards into the tree that Damon and Elena were seated in, and the branches shook violently.

Damon held on more tightly to Elena, for the first time looking slightly worried.

The werewolf was back on its feet almost immediately, and it flew at Klaus, who dodged it again. He gave a shout of laughter, "Is that the best you got?" With an angry roar, Jules leapt at Klaus, slamming him to the ground. And she opened her mouth to perform the killing-bite, when Klaus abruptly reached out and secured his hands around the werewolf's neck. They both rolled over in a blur, their movements too fast for Elena to discern what was happening.

But she did hear the gut-wrenching sound of bone breaking.

Her breath caught and she slowly opened her eyes, not having realized that she had closed them. She looked down.

And saw Klaus standing over a dead werewolf body. He had snapped its neck.

Jules was dead.

Elena covered her face with her hands, unable to believe this was happening. She took a deep breath, and turned to Damon to tell him that she had to do _something _to save the people she cared about, but then she realized he was no longer there.

She looked up frantically, and saw a figure looming above her. "Plan B," Damon proclaimed loudly in an ominous voice.

And then he jumped.

Elena's mouth opened in furious disbelief when two other figures from another tree jumped down to the ground, landing next to Damon.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Salvatore brothers," Klaus sneered at the group surrounding him on the ground. "And, of course, Katherine Pierce. Fighting the good fight, are you? How disappointing...you could've helped me, you know."

"I'd rather see you dead," Katherine hissed, circling the Original slowly.

"We won't let you near Elena," Stefan stated coldly, as he stared down Klaus. "You'll never touch her."

Klaus only smirked before turning to Damon. "And you? What are your last words?"

Damon didn't flinch, "Go to hell."

And the three of them attacked Klaus at once. Elena gasped out in horror as she leaned over, watching the scene unfolding in front of her.

They were all going to die.

Everyone she cared about.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

_I have to be the sacrifice, _Elena realized, _that's what it all comes down to. They had been wrong to underestimate Klaus...He wasn't going away, and he wasn't going to die. _She took a deep breath, _I have to do this. _She closed her eyes, the images of everyone she loved and cared about flying through her mind's eye.

Briefly, she felt a flash of regret when she thought about Damon. What they would've had together...

Suddenly, Katherine let out a bloodcurdling scream. At the same time, Elena felt an intense pain rip through her body. She tried to breathe, and found she couldn't.

Losing her balance, she fell out of the tree.

"Elena!" someone shouted her name, but she couldn't tell who.

"What's wrong with her?" an equally panicked voice asked, "Elena!"

"You mean she was _here _the whole time?" someone asked disbelievingly.

Elena tried in vain to open her eyes, and she clutched whoever was holding her closer. "It's me," the person said soothingly, "I'm here. Come on, wake up..."

She slowly forced her eyes open, and Damon's face swam into her view. She was cradled in his arms, and she realized he must have caught her when she fell. "I'm sorry," she murmured incoherently, "I didn't...mean to fall...it hurts."

"Where?" Damon whispered urgently, "Where does it hurt?"

Elena laid a hand over her heart, feeling extremely disorientated. "What happened?"

Damon hesitated before moving slightly out of the way. Klaus was standing over them, and he leered down at her. But then he also stepped aside so she could see what was happening behind him. Elena blinked, recognizing Katherine's body strewn across the ground. Stefan was crouched next to her, looking worried. "Oh god," Elena whispered, "Is she...?"

"No, not dead," Klaus said cheerfully, "Not yet, anyway. She will be soon. As will everyone here."

Elena ignored him, "What's wrong with her?"

Klaus pulled something out of his pocket and dropped it to the ground so Elena could see it.

An empty syringe.

"Shot some vervain through her heart," Klaus said with a grin, "I've heard the pain is intolerable."

Elena's lip curled in anger, and she gritted her teeth as she tried to sit up. She pushed Damon off as she stood up shakily. Klaus looked amused, which only made her angrier. "That's IT," she hissed at him, "I'm sick and _tired_ of all of us being pawns in your little puppeteer _games. _None of us deserve this, and I'm not going to stand for it anymore! You want me to be your freaking sacrifice? Well, FINE. _Do it._ Just leave my family and friends out of it!"

"That's the most logical thing you've ever said to me," Klaus smiled at her patronizingly, "But I'm not Elijah. I don't make deals. Especially not with people who just tried to have me killed." He laughed at Elena's expression, "Don't get me wrong. Major props for getting a werewolf to work with you...but you didn't _honestly _think that was going to work, did you?"

"It almost worked," Elena defended, crossing her arms.

Klaus merely laughed again before gesturing to someone in the woods behind them. Moments later, Jonah walked out, his expression unreadable. "Let's get a start on this sacrifice, shall we?" Klaus ordered, tossing the moonstone to Jonah.

As they began discussing the spell, Damon pulled Elena harshly against him. "So, this is how it ends?" he demanded, his voice low with anger. "I _told _you not to get involved!"

"We have no other choice, Damon," Elena whispered back, pulling herself out his grip. "I'm sorry." She turned to look at Stefan, who was still standing by Katherine's body. "I know you guys did everything you possibly could to save me. And you'll never know how much that meant to me..." She could feel tears running down her cheeks, but she didn't let that deter what she wanted to say. "I can't let you guys die for me. I care about you both too much to let that happen."

Stefan only shook his head at her, his gaze pleading. "Don't be a martyr, Elena. You don't want to do this..."

"I'm not," Elena whispered, turning back to look at Damon.

He looked devastated, broken. "Elena, please."

She took his hand within hers and held it up to her heart. Then she leaned forward and kissed him softly. As she pulled back, she murmured against his lips, "I love you, Damon." Then she released his hand and turned back towards Klaus, her head held high to face her fate.

"I'm ready."


	28. Finale: Part I

**A/N: **thank you soo much for everyone's kind reviews! they made me smile :)

* * *

_FINALE: PART I_

* * *

Elena stood still as Klaus circled her, a predatory glint in his eye. She could see Jonah several feet behind Klaus, his hands raised as he murmured some sort of spell.

Klaus inched closer, and she could feel his breath on her face as he leaned in towards her. Elena felt her heart rate increase significantly, and she cursed herself for letting him affect her. Klaus smirked slightly as soon as this thought ran through her mind, and she froze momentarily. _He couldn't read minds, could he? _

"So beautiful," Klaus raised a hand to her face, "Such a shame you have to die."

Elena gritted her teeth and shoved his arm off of her. "You might have won, Klaus, but you will _never _touch me."

Anger flashed across his face and he backhanded her so violently that she fell backwards. She braced herself to hit the ground, but she hit something hard and cold much sooner than expected.

She had just realized that she had fallen on a slab of stone that seemed to have appeared out of the ground, when ropes materialized around her and tied down both her wrists and her legs. "Hey!" Elena struggled uselessly against the restraints, tipping her head back to glare at Jonah, "What's the big idea?"

"We can't have you trying to _escape_," Klaus said coldly, testing the strength of the ropes against the stone. When he was satisfied that she wouldn't be able to move, he stepped out of her line of vision to talk to Jonah.

Elena waited till he was engrossed in the conversation before raising her head to see what was happening. She scanned the area in front of her, noticing that both Stefan and Damon had disappeared from the clearing. Her gaze landed instead on Katherine's body, which was still sprawled across the ground.

Klaus suddenly appeared in front of her again, this time holding a large knife.

Elena swallowed nervously, and Klaus grinned as he strode towards her. "Well, doppelganger, it's been an absolute _pleasure _knowing you," he whispered suggestively, leaning forward until his mouth hovered above hers. "But you can at least die knowing that your sacrifice helped out all those vampires that you love so much…" He gave her a sinister smile, "We'll _all _be able to walk in the sunlight now." And then he gave her a hard kiss, ignoring Elena's hiss of fury.

"Okay, Jonah, hold out the moonstone," Klaus commanded as he pulled away from Elena. "Her blood must be spilt on it."

"Yes, sir," Jonah answered primly, moving forward to comply with his orders.

Elena closed her eyes tightly as Klaus raised the knife above her, the blade glinting in the moonlight.

"KLAUS!"

Elena's eyes flew open, and she raised her head to see Katherine staggering towards them. She looked horrible, her movements still hindered by the aftereffects of the vervain.

"You're awake already?" Klaus sounded incredulous, "How?"

"I've built up a tolerance to vervain," Katherine snapped, her gaze flicking between Klaus, the knife, and Elena. "Klaus, you don't want to do this."

"Actually, I do," Klaus frowned at her, appearing to consider something. "And if you're a good little girl, I'll make you a deal."

"What deal?"

"Don't interfere with this, and I'll let you live long enough to see the world _after _her sacrifice." Klaus grinned broadly, "You'll get to see all vampires being able to roam the streets freely whenever they want. That shaman's curse will be put to rest once and for all."

"Not for werewolves," Elena pointed out, and Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Elena, in case you hadn't noticed, we're _vampires. _The werewolves can all go _die_ for all I care."

There was a beat, and a different voice suddenly announced, "You're gonna regret that."

Elena's mouth dropped open when she raised her head to see what was going on. Caroline stood in the clearing, her hands on her hips. She had her vamp-face on, and a strong wind billowed around her, so that her hair blew wildly behind her.

Elena had never seen her friend look so…intimidating.

"Oh really?" Klaus laughed, "How exactly am I going to regret—"

There was a growl.

Before Elena could blink, Caroline and Katherine had both blurred away and disappeared.

Klaus whirled around on the spot, but there was still no way he could have seen the werewolf coming.

Elena screamed as the werewolf attacked, digging its teeth into Klaus' shoulder. Klaus let out a roar of rage, trying to throw the werewolf off. But it clung stubbornly on, only digging its teeth in further. As Elena looked up in horror, she met the werewolf's gaze.

_Tyler_.

Klaus let out another roar, flipping himself backwards so that Tyler flew off with a loud thud. Klaus ignored the werewolf completely, and grappled at his shoulder to see how much damage had been done. "Jonah!" he shouted, "Get me an antidote for this bite—" He broke off, realizing Jonah was no longer there. "Where the hell did he go?" Klaus grabbed Elena's shoulders harshly, ripping her out of the restraints. "WHERE IS HE?"

"He's over there," Caroline answered. Elena and Klaus both turned towards the direction of her voice, and Elena's eyes widened in surprise.

Katherine, Stefan, Caroline, and Damon were all standing over the werewolf's body; Tyler looked like he had been knocked out. When Klaus only continued to stare at them in confusion, Caroline raised her hand to point in another direction. "Over _there_," she repeated.

Elena and Klaus both looked to where Caroline was pointing, and Klaus let out a hiss of rage. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Jonah, Bonnie, Luka, and Lucy were standing in a circle, their hands joined. "I'm doing the right thing," Jonah answered calmly, "Standing by my family."

"You can't—no one _betrays—" _Klaus sputtered, before gritting his teeth. "_Make _me an antidote to this werewolf bite immediately!"

"You're an Original, Klaus," Lucy called back, "You should know better than that...there are no antidotes to save a vampire from a werewolf's bite. That would disturb the balance of power between all things supernatural."

Before Klaus could reply, the four witches began chanting. "_U__t luna cado...Permissum vicis propero..."  
_

With those words, they broke the circle and all pointed at Klaus, who looked utterly enraged. "What the hell are you people _doing_?"

"You'll see soon enough," Bonnie answered tightly, her finger beginning to shake from exertion. Luka glanced over at her, looking worried. He suddenly raised his other hand and gestured to someone that Elena couldn't see. Within moments, Jeremy walked out of the forest and towards them.

"What—" Elena began furiously, but Luka raised a hand to silence her.

"Elena, we need him. Bonnie _needs _him."

Bonnie was now shaking from the effort of keeping up with the spell. Elena frowned, wondering what the hell Luka was talking about. As soon as Jeremy reached Bonnie, he placed both his hands on her shoulders. Then he leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. Bonnie visibly relaxed, and closed her eyes.

And Elena could _feel _the power emitting from the witches swell in _power _until it felt like the air around them was crackling with electricity.

"How are you doing this?" Elena yelled to Jeremy, raising her voice to be heard over the sudden gusts of wind.

"He grounds her powers," Luka called back loudly, "They have a connection..."

Filing this information away to be dealt with later, Elena turned to see what was happening with Klaus. He looked utterly shocked, his hand still placed over his shoulder. He met Elena's gaze, confusion marring his features. "I feel...pain," he said slowly, the words clearly unfamiliar to him. "I actually..._feel_."

He staggered towards Elena, and clutched onto her arms, his eyes widening. She caught him as he fell to his knees, and she sank down onto the ground with him. "Klaus?"

He sucked in lungfuls of unnecessary air. "I'm...dying."

"Yes," Elena agreed quietly, "You are."

He clutched her closer to him and whispered in a shaky voice, "What are they doing to me?"

"Speeding up time...so the effects of the bite aren't prolonged."

"I won't have to...suffer?" Klaus asked, his voice sounding faint.

"No." Elena watched as his grip loosened from her arms, "You don't have to suffer." Klaus nodded, meeting her gaze for one last time before his eyes closed and he slumped onto the ground, unmoving.

Elena slowly stood up, distancing herself from his body.

Klaus was dead.

She didn't know how long she stood there, staring down at the man who had done his best to ruin her life. She jumped when she felt someone touch her arm, and she turned to see Damon standing next to her. "It's over, Elena," his voice surprisingly gentle, "Let's go."

Elena met his gaze, and saw herself mirrored in them. "It's really over," she repeated disbelievingly. And then she broke down in tears, and flung her arms around Damon. He wrapped his arms around her instantly, pulling her tightly against his chest as if he would never let go.


	29. Say Goodbye In The Pouring Rain

_FINALE: PART II_

* * *

When Elena woke up the next day, it took her a few minutes to realize where she was.

She slowly sat up on the sofa that she had apparently slept in, and looked around the Salvatore living room in confusion.

Caroline was sprawled out on the sofa opposite hers, seemingly fast asleep. Jeremy was passed out on the arm chair, with Bonnie curled up in his lap, her head resting against his chest. Elena let her gaze linger on her best friend and her brother for several moments, trying to figure out when _that _had happened.

"Rise and shine!" a voice announced loudly behind her, and Elena jumped. She turned around to see Damon standing at the doorway to the living room, holding a tray filled with glasses of orange juice—and one glass of blood.

Caroline groaned as she rolled over the sofa, but her eyes immediately opened as the scent of blood wafted across the room. "Ooh!" she leapt up and blurred over to Damon, nearly knocking him into the wall in her haste to get to the blood.

"Careful there Blondie," Damon chuckled before he met Elena's bleary gaze. "And _how _is my favorite doppelganger doing this morning?" he drawled out before looking at her expectantly.

"I don't know how _she's _doing," Katherine answered as she strolled into the living room, looking oddly pleased about something. "But I'm doing just _fine_," she grinned and turned around as Stefan entered the room, running a hand through his tousled hair.

"Hey, you two," Damon threw a couch cushion in Jeremy's direction, "Get a room!"

"Cut it out, Damon," Bonnie said half heartedly, her hand raising to stop the pillow in mid-air before making it reverse direction so that in flew towards Damon instead.

"Watch it!" He leapt out of the way, and Stefan caught the pillow easily, shaking his head as he grinned in Bonnie's direction.

"I would say someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...but it doesn't look like you made it to one," Stefan smirked at Bonnie before grabbing one of the glasses of orange juice off the tray that Damon was holding and disappearing into the kitchen.

Everyone stared after him in disbelief.

"Was that just Stefan...making a _joke_?" Damon tilted his head, looking at Katherine suspiciously. "What did you do? Feed him human blood?"

"I didn't do anything!" Katherine pouted right as the doorbell rang. She moved to answer it, but Stefan blurred out of the kitchen and opened the door before she had even taken a step.

"Oh wow," Stefan commented as he stepped back to let whoever was at the door inside, "This is a surprise."

Lucy, Luka, and Jonah walked into the living room. Bonnie immediately went over and gave Lucy a hug. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?"

"First off, we just wanted to thank you," Jonah said, nodding at Stefan. "You kept your end of the deal, and together we all succeeded."

"Not all vampires are like Elijah or Klaus," Caroline commented, looking up at them from where she was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. "A lot of us are actually pretty decent people."

Stefan smiled at her before reaching out to shake Jonah's hand, "I agree completely. Witches and vampires working together for the common good. It'll be a story to tell."

"And that brings us to the second reason we're here," Lucy announced with some deliberation, "We're leaving Mystic Falls."

"What?" Bonnie demanded, "B-but you guys just got here! We're family..."

"And we'll still be family," Luka grasped both of her hands, "No matter where we are."

"We're moving back to Georgia," Jonah turned to look at his wife and son, "Together. As a family. And..."

"And we're taking _this _with us," Lucy said, holding up the moonstone. She raised a hand to ward off Damon's protest, "Look. We don't know what curse the shaman used to bind the moonstone, so we have no way of truly destroying it."

"The curse only applies to vampires and werewolves," Jonah put in, "So it has nothing to do with the fate of witches or warlocks. It would be best if it remained in our hands."

"How can we trust you?" Elena asked, standing up to face them. "I mean, this is my life we're dealing with..."

"You can trust us," Lucy said kindly, smiling at Elena. "We have nothing to lose or gain. It does not affect us if vampires can walk in the sun, or if werewolves cease to turn on the full moon. We're the only neutral territory you have."

Elena slowly nodded, accepting their theory. "Thank you," she said finally, "For everything."

"We'll keep it well hidden," Luka put in, glancing at Katherine. "Where _no one _can find it." Katherine rolled her eyes, but didn't comment.

"So...you're really leaving?" Bonnie asked in a small voice, and Damon gestured for everyone to follow him into the kitchen so that they could have their goodbyes.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Lucy embraced Bonnie in tight hug. "We're just one phone call away," she promised, "We'll always be here to help."

Bonnie swallowed, holding back tears as she hugged Luka and Jonah in turn. "I couldn't have done any of this without you. I learned so much..."

"You'll be a great witch someday, Bonnie," Lucy whispered into her ear, "Trust me...it runs in our blood."

And with those parting words, they left.

.

.

Caroline toweled her hair dry as she walked back into her own bedroom, and she flopped onto her bed, picking up the nearest magazine and mindlessly flipping through it. So much had happened over the past few days, she felt like she hadn't even had time to _think_.

The doorbell rang, but she didn't make a move to answer it. It was probably someone for her mother, anyway. From what she had heard, the hunting party hadn't been too happy with the lack of results from last night. They had all _seen _the alive-werewolf, but then all they had found was the _dead _werewolf...which begged the question, how had it died?

Caroline didn't think they would be pleased to learn that it had died at the hands of a vampire.

"Caroline!" her mom called, "You have a visitor."

"Coming," Caroline called back as she hurriedly bounded down the stairs, half afraid that some supposed-to-be-dead-vampire had shown up at her door. "Oh! Tyler," she exclaimed in surprise, seeing him standing at the bottom of the staircase. "What are you doing here?"

He looked uncomfortable, and gestured to the porch. "Can we talk outside for a minute?"

"Sure," she frowned as she followed him outside, and shut the door quietly behind her. That's when she noticed his car parked in her driveway, the backseat stuffed with two large duffel bags. "Are you...going somewhere?"

Tyler shoved his hands into his pockets, not meeting her gaze. "I'm going down to Florida for a while."

Caroline blinked, "For how long?"

"I don't know." Tyler took a deep breath, but still wouldn't look at her. "I need to get out, Care. Out of Mystic Falls. Too much has happened here...too many things that I don't want to remember."

She took a step towards him, her hands fluttering out uncertainly. "You don't have to get through it alone, Tyler. Your friends are all here..._I'm _here. We can get through it together—"

But he was already shaking his head. He gazed towards the street, looking thoughtful. "I don't have any friends left in Mystic Falls, Caroline. Everyone that I've known and loved and cared about is gone. My dad, my uncle, my girlfriend, my best friend...and now even Jules. All of them are _dead_ because...well, because of all this supernatural shit that I can't even believe is real!"

Caroline took a startled step backwards at his sudden exclamation. "I've lost people too," she said softly, "But you can't just run away...Tyler, this is your _home_."

He was silent for a few moments. "Before Jules died, she told me that she has a bunch of friends down in Florida. Old friends of Mason's too. Werewolves."

"That's where you're going?"

Tyler nodded, "They can teach me. How to be a werewolf. How to control all...the violence I feel inside me."

She could feel the panic rising in her chest, but did her best to force it down. "So," she began in a controlled voice, "This is goodbye?"

"I just wanted to thank you for everything," He finally met her gaze, "And I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you. You were always a good friend to me, and I should've been the same to you." He waited for a second, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. "Goodbye, Caroline."

He walked down the porch steps and to his car. Try as she might, she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks. "Wait!" she blurred to where he was standing, not caring about whether anyone was watching or not. "Stay."

Tyler looked down at where she was clutching onto his arm, and closed his eyes. "I wish I could. But I can't."

"_Please," _Caroline whispered, "You can't leave, too. Everyone..._everyone _always leaves—or _dies—_just, please don't go..."

He swallowed, looking tormented. "I could love you, Caroline." He gave her a slight grin, "In fact, I think I already do."

And then he was kissing her.

But she knew it was a kiss goodbye. "You're still leaving," she said when he pulled away, "You still want to leave."

Tyler leaned against his car, and nodded slowly. "A werewolf bite can kill a vampire, Care. You think I could _live _with myself if I ever lost my temper with you, and..." He trailed off, "If Jules' friends can teach me how to control my werewolf instincts, then I'll know for _sure _that I could never hurt you."

Caroline perked up, her eyes widening. "Does that mean that you're coming back?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, his lips curving upwards. "You were right, Caroline. This is my _home_...I'll always come back."

She nodded, understanding. She stepped back to let him open the car door, but she placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting in. "I think I could love you, too," she said back, before kissing him on the cheek. "Goodbye, Tyler."

* * *

***next chapter will be the last...and will be ALL Delena ;) **


	30. Finale: Part III

_FINALE: PART III_

* * *

Stefan and Damon were sitting in the living room of the boarding house, chatting quietly about the aftermath of Klaus' death and the subsequent events that had followed.

They were interrupted by a small _thump_, as Katherine appeared behind them. Damon looked up at to see the source of the noise, and noticed that she had a small duffel bag that she had dropped to the floor to signal her entrance. "Well," she announced brightly, "I'm off!"

Damon and Stefan exchanged incredulous glances before turning their attention back to Katherine. "Let me get this straight," Stefan began disbelievingly, "You're _leaving_?"

"My work here is done," she shrugged, "I see no point in staying in Mystic Falls."

Damon stretched backwards, downing his glass of scotch. "I'm assuming this means you have a new _master plan_?"

Katherine smirked, "What gives you that idea?"

He stood up with a faint smile, "You wouldn't be Katherine Pierce without one."

She only raised an eyebrow to acknowledge the sentiment, watching as Damon began climbing up the stairs. He paused halfway up and called over his shoulder, "Good riddance, Katherine. May I not see you for another 150 years."

Katherine grinned back response, "Goodbye Damon." She waited until he had reached the top of the stairs before smiling at Stefan. "Well?" she prompted expectantly, "Do I get a goodbye?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes at her, "What's the real reason you're leaving? You know you can't find the moonstone again…and even if you could, there's no way you'd ever get your hands on Elena again."

Katherine rolled her eyes, "Please. I'm not going to waste my time trying to find the moonstone just so I'd have to go through the trouble of finding a werewolf, witch, and the doppelganger _again_." She paused, "Besides, I know Elena is too well protected by all these witches from the Bennett family line." She heaved a sigh, "It's rather an inconvenience."

"And you expect me to believe that you've given up this moonstone business altogether?" Stefan asked skeptically, shaking his head. "I know you too well, Katherine. What's your plan?"

She considered him for a moment, before deciding to divulge. "The shaman that put the curse on the moonstone," she began, "He must have descendents _somewhere_. They are the only ones that can change the curse so that it _doesn't _require the blood of the doppelganger."

Stefan stood up slowly, "You're going to find his family? Where are they?"

"Well, I don't know yet," Katherine shrugged, a small smile on her lips. "But, hey, I've got a whole eternity to find them."

"So you're actually going to find a way to get rid of the sun and moon curse…_without _killing Elena?"

"Yes, that's what I said," Katherine said impatiently, "No need to sound so shocked, Stefan."

"I'm not shocked…just surprised."

Katherine walked towards him, her expression contemplative. She placed a hand on his chest, and gazed up at him soulfully. "Come with me," she whispered, her lips brushing his ear. "Why stay in Mystic Falls?" she pulled back so she could see his expression, "With me, you could have _everything_."

He didn't back away, but he shook his head slightly, "Katherine…"

At that moment, the door to the boarding house flew open revealing a tearful Caroline. "He left!" she sobbed, and Stefan stepped back from Katherine so he could guide Caroline onto the sofa. "He's gone!"

"Shh," he comforted, kneeling in front of her. "Who left? What are you talking about?"

"Tyler!" Caroline whispered, her sobs subsiding somewhat. "He left to go to Florida…everyone j-just keeps leaving me!" She buried her face into her hands, "It's me, isn't it? Everyone that I've ever l-loved has left!"

"No, it's not you," Stefan said gently, sliding onto the sofa next to her and wrapping his arm around her. She curled up next to him, keeping her face hidden in his shoulder. "Tyler stopped by this morning," he continued quietly, "And he told me what he was planning. He also told me that he loves you, Caroline. He's doing this _for _you."

"I know," Caroline said, her voice muffled, "But he still _left_." She lifted her face out of his shoulder suddenly, looking panicked. She glanced over at Katherine, her gaze landing on the duffel bag, before looking back at Stefan frantically. "W-wait, you're not leaving too, are you?"

Stefan wrapped his arms around her more securely, before placing a kiss on the top of her head. "No," he murmured, his gaze finding Katherine's. "Mystic Falls is my home. I'm not leaving."

Katherine sighed, reaching down to pick up her bag. She smiled at Stefan, and he caught the flash of regret in her eyes. "I guess you've made your decision."

"I have," he nodded once, gazing at her thoughtfully. "Goodbye Katherine."

She paused at the door, turning to look at him one last time. "I'll be back," she informed him with a smirk, "Because I love you, Stefan. Always have, always will."

Stefan merely raised an eyebrow, "Maybe next time you come back, you'll actually convince me of that."

"Oh believe me, I will," Katherine said confidently.

"How are you so sure?"

Katherine only winked at him before shutting the door behind her.

Stefan stared after her in confusion, but then he froze, hearing her voice ringing in his ears. '_Because you and I are endgame...' _

"Is something wrong?" Caroline asked, looking up at him with a frown, "Stefan?"

"No," he said after a moment, and smiled down at Caroline, "Everything's fine."

.

.

Damon stood at the top of the stairs until Katherine and Stefan said their goodbyes. When he was satisfied that she was truly gone, he walked into his room—and saw Elena sitting cross-legged on his bed, waiting for him. He frowned at her before turning to shut his door. "How did you get in here?"

"Bonnie," Elena responded simply, "She's getting really good at her spells."

Damon leaned against the door, raising an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that the witch _teleported _you into my room?"

Elena flashed him a grin, "I thought you might like to know how it feels to have random people appear in your bedroom when you least expect it."

"Ah, so this is payback," Damon deduced, smirking at her. "Well, you won't see _me _complaining about finding a girl waiting in bed for me..." He laughed and ducked when she threw one of the pillows at him. He reached down to pick it up, but didn't throw it back. He could sense that underneath her good humor, there was a wall of seriousness brewing. He pulled the chair out from his desk on the other side of the room, and took a seat. "I assume you came here because you wanted to talk?"

Elena nodded, and took a deep breath. "Now that all this Klaus-Elijah-moonstone business is over, I've actually had some time to think." Damon nodded, waiting for her to continue. She spoke haltingly, clearly choosing her words carefully. "We've been through a lot, Damon." She twisted her hands in her lap, "You've done a lot of things."

"Agreed," Damon said, keeping his voice expressionless.

"I don't care what happened in the past," Elena said finally, meeting his gaze. "You and Stefan were both different people then, I get that. And I..._know_ that you came to Mystic Falls for Katherine—"

"But I stayed for _you_," Damon couldn't help interrupting, and he saw her lips curve upwards slightly.

"I know," she said quietly, "You've done so much for me, for my friends, for the people I love..."

"Elena—"

"When you tried to kill Jeremy, I t-thought I could _never _forgive you for that." Her voice shook then, "It scares me sometimes...that I _did _forgive you. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't have." She looked up at him, her hand absentmindedly tracing the pattern on his bedspread. "I know that you were hurting, and I know what I did to you. And I'm sorry."

"You already apologized," Damon pointed out, but Elena shook her head.

"I wanted you to hear it again. It's important for me that you _know _how much you mean to me." Damon looked up sharply at her tone, but she continued, "Because sometimes I feel like I'm the one that d-doesn't deserve you—"

Damon was at her side in a flash, "_Don't _ever say that again. I'm the one who's responsible for..." he shook his head, "There's too many things to list." He knelt on the floor beside the bed, and reached out take her hand within his own. "I can't be who you want me to _be_, Elena. That's just not who I am...I'm not the knight in shining armor who always saves the day. I'm usually the guy that people need to be saved _from_."

Elena slid her hand out of his grasp, and Damon stood up to leave. As he was walking towards the door, she spoke again, "You don't give yourself enough credit, Damon."

He turned around to face her, surprised to see her standing behind him. "What are you talking about?"

"In spite of everything that you do, you can't deny that you _care_, Damon." Elena walked towards him, placing a hand on his arm. "You care about this town, and you care about the people in it...even your brother. In fact, you care about him so much that you were willing to give up _everything _just so he could be happy..."

Damon didn't realize he was backing up until he felt the door behind him. Elena continued walking forward until they were inches apart from each other. She placed a hand on his face gently, "Your selflessness...it's why I love you."

He blinked, unable to believe the words actually coming out of her mouth. "I'm sorry," he said slowly, "But could you say that again?"

Elena grinned, her eyes bright. "I love you, Damon," she said clearly, and then she squealed as he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and propelled them into the air. She gasped out as her back landed against the bed, and Damon held himself above her, his gaze intense as he leaned forward and kissed her deeply.

Her eyelids fluttered in pleasure as he kissed a path down her neck before moving back to her lips. "I love you, too," he whispered, before kissing her again. Elena flushed prettily, resting her head against the pillow as she gazed up at him. "How come you decided to change your mind about me?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows as he nipped at her neck playfully.

Elena wrapped her arms around his neck thoughtfully before she reached up to kiss him. "Because you and I," she murmured against his lips, "were always _endgame."_

_FIN._

* * *

***thank you all so much for sticking with me for this story! it was a blast to write, and I'm so thankful for everyone's reviews and encouragement along the way :)**

**-as an explanation for the ending: one of the major themes repeated throughout this story was the idea of Katherine and Elena sharing a deeper connection and understanding. Both of them saying the same line ('endgame') to the Salvatore brother that they truly loved, was a symbol of their connection. Also, I tried to show that Caroline and Stefan had sort of a best-friend vibe going on, but that Katherine would always be after Stefan, because in a twisted way, she actually did love him.**


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